NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams are back in action for 134 laps totalling 201 miles in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 on Friday, May 20th at Charlotte Motor Speedway. FOX Sports 1 will begin their pre-race coverage at 8 pm ET with a green flag around 8:30 pm ET. Preceding this race is the Sprint Showdown also on FOX Sports one starting at 7 pm ET.
Creature Crusher: Crafton Conquers Monster Mile
He did it again.
After leading the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with six victories in 2015, Matt Crafton visited Victory Lane for the first time this season when he captured his 12th career checkered flag at Dover International Speedway. The triumph was also the first of his career at the Monster Mile.
As a result of his second consecutive top-two finish, the No. 88 Toyota Tundra driver vaulted to the top spot in the standings where he leads second-place Timothy Peters by two points. In five starts, he owns one win, two top-fives and four top-tens.
Crafton will attempt to build his points advantage in Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He won his first career race there in 2008. In 13 career Queen City starts, Crafton claims five top-fives, ten top-tens and an 8.2 average finish. He placed third, second and fourth in his last three starts at Charlotte.
An intermediate track maven, consider Crafton the favorite to win Friday’s race. Dating back to 2014, Crafton has finished in the top-ten in 17 of his last 19 races at ovals measuring 1.5 or 1.54 miles. Included in that stretch are six wins and four runner-ups.
Crafton ranks first in the in most Loop Data statistics: average running position (6.0; second is Christopher Bell, 8.942), driver rating (111.9; second is William Byron, 98.0), fastest laps run (93; second is Byron, 69), laps led (217; second is Kyle Busch, 123).
The ThorSport Racing driver’s Dover victory virtually assures him a spot in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase along with previous winners Johnny Sauter, John Hunter Nemechek and Byron.
Suárez Still Zoning in on First Win
Daniel Suárez continues to zero in on his first NASCAR national Series win, but still hasn’t been able to close the door.
In last Friday’s JACOB Companies 200 at Dover International Speedway, the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver produced the sixth NASCAR national series runner-up showing of his career after he finished 0.571 seconds behind Matt Crafton.
Suárez takes the wheel of the No. 51 KBM Toyota Tundra again in Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
In 18 career starts, he has eight top-fives and 11 top-tens.
Bell Barrels to Season-Best Finish
Christopher Bell finished a season-high third in his first career start at Dover International Speedway on Friday. He now ranks ninth in the Camping World Truck Series points standings, 25 markers behind leader Matt Crafton.
The No. 4 Toyota driver, who placed fourth in the previous race at Kansas, will attempt to earn his third straight top-five finish in his track debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday.
Bell’s KBM teammate William Byron placed 11th after starting on the pole. He led a race-high 80 laps. Byron sits sixth in the standings, 13 points behind Crafton. His 69 fastest laps run this season rank second to Crafton’s 93.
A Charlotte native, Byron will also make his track debut at CMS.
GMS Racing Continues Strong Season Start at Dover
After winning its first race last season, GMS Racing continues to trend up in 2016.
In last Friday’s JACOB Companies 200, the team placed three drivers in the top-ten: Johnny Sauter (fourth), Spencer Gallagher (sixth), Kaz Grala (10th). Ben Kennedy finished close behind in 13th.
Gallagher leads the GMS racers in the points standings where he occupies the fifth spot, 12 markers behind leader Matt Crafton. His four top-tens this season tie Crafton and Daniel Hemric for the series lead.
Ben Kennedy sits 12th in the standings (30 points behind Crafton), while Sauter ranks 13th (-35).
Sauter virtually clinched a berth in the Camping World Truck Series Chase with his win in the season opener at Daytona.
Truex Time
Ryan Truex continued his strong season with an eighth-place finish at his home track – Dover International Speedway. The Mayetta, New Jersey native and younger brother of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Martin Truex Jr. ranks fourth in the Camping World Truck Series standings, six points behind first-place Matt Crafton.
The Hattori Racing Enterprises driver has produced a positive place differential in four of the five races this season: +13 at Daytona, started 20th and finished second; +6 at Martinsville, started 18th and finished 12th; +15 at Kansas, started 21st and finished sixth; +ten at Dover, started 18th and finished eighth. His overall place differential through five races is +32.
Custer on the Rise
Cole Custer – the youngest race winner in NASCAR national series history – started the season with a top result of only 17th in the first three races, but has picked up the pace with two consecutive top-ten finishes (seventh at Kansas and fifth at Dover).
Custer will try to climb from the 16th spot in the standings (41 points behind Matt Crafton) in Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200. Kasey Kahne won last year’s race driving Custer’s No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Kahne edged out eventual Camping World Truck Series champion Erik Jones by a track-record 0.005 seconds. The finish is tied for the third-closest in series history with August 14, 2008 at Michigan when Erik Darnell defeated second-place Johnny Benson by the same margin.
Reddick Back in Business
The trip to Dover treated Tyler Reddick well. The No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing driver did not defend his victory from 2016, but he did log his first top-ten finish of the year – a seventh-place showing. Reddick’s 39 laps led was the third-highest total in the race.
Following the Dover contest, Reddick jumped from 15th to tenth in the Camping World Truck Series standings – 29 points behind series leader Matt Crafton.
Reddick, who was last year’s championship runner-up, ranks second among series regulars with 107 laps led – only ten less than his total from all of 2015.