Crafton secures playoff spot with a win in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series e.p.t. 200 on Saturday, July 25th at Kansas Speedway.

For Matt Crafton, the victory couldn’t have been sweeter.

The 44-year-old reigning NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series champion held off a determined charge from 19-year-old Christian Eckes and held on to win Saturday’s e.p.t. 200 at Kansas Speedway.

In the second leg of NASCAR’s first Truck Series weekend doubleheader, Crafton broke a 67-race drought dating back to his 2017 victory on the Eldora Speedway’s half-mile dirt track. Crafton took the lead moments after a restart on lap 113 of 134 and held the top spot the rest of the way.

Crafton Secures Playoff Spot

The three-time series champion beat Eckes to the finish line by 0.324 seconds to secure his third win at the 1.5-mile track and the 15th of his career. Crafton had been in a close battle for one of the final Playoff spots; now, with two races left in the regular season, he’s locked into the postseason with the victory.

“It was very, very sweet,” Crafton acknowledged taking the checkered flag as a souvenir. “Not a lot of give-up in these guys (the No. 88 ThorSport Racing team), without a doubt. Our Ford F-150 was good, really good all day.

“It was good on that last run, as well. The 18 (Eckes) had a little bit of speed—he was making me nervous right there. I kept trying to take his line away and make him tight and loose… At the end of the day, I can’t thank these guys enough for working so hard each and every week on this thing.”

Runner-Up, Christian Eckes

The runner-up finish was bittersweet for Eckes, who ran a pedestrian 13th in Friday night’s doubleheader opener at Kansas.

“What a comeback for our team,” said Eckes, who applied constant pressure to Crafton in the closing laps but couldn’t find a way around him. “We sucked yesterday. You can’t sugar-coat it—we were terrible. (Crew chief) Rudy (Fugle) and the guys worked really, really hard last night and this morning to get it better.

“We still started the race a little bit off, but the track kind of came to us. It was perfect at the end. I just got a little tight behind him (Crafton).”

The Top-Five

Grant Enfinger ran third behind Crafton and Eckes, with Tanner Gray and Ben Rhodes finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Gray secured the first top-five of his career in his 13th Truck Series start.

Disaster Strikes Three Drivers

If Crafton picked the perfect time to win for the first time this season, the race was an unmitigated disaster for Tyler Ankrum, Johnny Sauter, and Stewart Friesen, all of whom qualified for the Playoffs last year. Even with the postseason field expanded to ten drivers this season, all three are in dire jeopardy of missing the Playoffs after Saturday’s race. Sauter was KO’d in a 12-truck wreck that started when Gray turned the No. 68 Toyota of Clay Greenfield across traffic on lap 83.

Sauter was eliminated in 33rd place and fell 43 points behind Todd Gilliland for the tenth and final playoff spot. Friesen was a victim of the same wreck, finishing 34th, and stands 14th in points, 71 behind Gilliland.

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Point Standings

In a wreck involving three GMS Racing teammates, Ankrum drifted up the track on lap 94, turned across the nose of Zane Smith’s No. 21 Chevrolet, and collected the No. 23 of teammate Brett Moffitt, the 2018 series champion. Smith had swept the first two stages of the race but finished ninth after damage to the left front of his Silverado.

Ankrum dropped out of the top-ten after a 33rd-place finish on Friday night, thanks to mechanical issues. He finished 28th on Saturday and is 11th in points, 22 behind Gilliland.

“My nose just started taking off,” Ankrum said of the wreck. “I don’t know what happened. I was fine, and I’ve never really had the nose take off—it was a really weird place.

“I had the wheel into. Pretty embarrassing. A demoralizing weekend, honestly. If you look at ‘demoralizing’ in the dictionary, my name would probably be in it. We’ve had a fast truck all weekend. We just need to catch a break.”

Rounding Out the Top-Ten

Friday night’s winner, Austin Hill, ran sixth on Saturday, followed by Derek Kraus, Brandon Jones, Smith, and polesitter Chase Purdy.

               1. (12)  Matt Crafton, Ford, 134.

               2. (3)  Christian Eckes #, Toyota, 134.

               3. (13)  Grant Enfinger, Ford, 134.

               4. (18)  Tanner Gray #, Ford, 134.

               5. (9)  Ben Rhodes, Ford, 134.

               6. (15)  Austin Hill, Toyota, 134.

               7. (11)  Derek Kraus #, Toyota, 134.

               8. (2)  Brandon Jones(i), Toyota, 134.

               9. (10)  Zane Smith #, Chevrolet, 134.

               10. (1)  Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 134.

               11. (16)  Raphael Lessard #, Toyota, 134.

               12. (4)  Brennan Poole(i), Toyota, 134.

               13. (17)  Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, 134.

               14. (29)  Spencer Davis #, Toyota, 134.

               15. (30)  Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 134.

               16. (19)  Tyler Hill, Chevrolet, 134.

               17. (22)  Tate Fogleman #, Chevrolet, 134.

               18. (23)  Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 134.

               19. (25)  Ryan Huff, Toyota, 133.

               20. (6)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 133.

               21. (26)  Robby Lyons II(i), Chevrolet, 133.

               22. (34)  Travis Pastrana, Chevrolet, 132.

               23. (37)  Kevin Donahue, Toyota, 130.

               24. (32)  Ray Ciccarelli, Chevrolet, 130.

               25. (35)  Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 129.

               26. (8)  Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, DVP, 118.

               27. (14)  Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, Accident, 94.

               28. (33)  Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, Accident, 92.

               29. (24)  Codie Rohrbaugh, Chevrolet, DVP, 91.

               30. (5)  Ty Majeski #, Chevrolet, DVP, 90.

               31. (28)  Clay Greenfield, Toyota, DVP, 90.

               32. (31)  Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, DVP, 87.

               33. (7)  Johnny Sauter, Ford, Accident, 83.

               34. (27)  Stewart Friesen, Toyota, Accident, 82.

               35. (21)  Natalie Decker, Chevrolet, Accident, 82.

               36. (20)  Cory Roper, Ford, Accident, 77.

               37. (36)  Bryan Dauzat, Chevrolet, Electrical, 61.

The e.p.t. 200 Stats

Average Speed of Race Winner:  102.016 mph.

Time of Race:  One Hr, 58 Mins, 13 Secs. The Margin of Victory:  0.324 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  Nine for 38 laps.

Lead Changes:  15 among nine drivers.

Lap Leaders:   C. Purdy 0;C. Eckes # 1-6;Z. Smith # 7-33;A. Hill 34-35;B. Rhodes 36;A. Hill 37-40;Z. Smith # 41-63;S. Friesen 64-66;M. Crafton 67;B. Moffitt 68-71;S. Creed 72-77;B. Moffitt 78-84;T. Gray # 85-87;S. Creed 88-99;A. Hill 100-112;M. Crafton 113-134.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Zane Smith # two times for 50 laps; Matt Crafton two times for 23 laps; Austin Hill three times for 19 laps; Sheldon Creed two times for 18 laps; Brett Moffitt two times for 11 laps; Christian Eckes # one time for six laps; Tanner Gray # one time for three laps; Stewart Friesen one time for three laps; Ben Rhodes one time for one lap.

Stage 1 Top-Ten: 21,23,88,18,51,30,24,38,4,19

Stage 2 Top-Ten: 21,88,23,2,19,26,16,24,18,38