Matt Crafton, driver of the No. 88 Menards/Certainteed Chevrolet, came off a strong two days at Dover International Speedway by placing third in the Lucas Oil 200 on Friday afternoon.
After two strong practice sessions on Thursday, Crafton qualified tenth on the grid Friday morning with a lap time of 23.181 seconds. He quickly made headway through the field early on in the race, gaining ground to as high as first position. The driver fought loose conditions throughout the race, but he was able to battle off the pack with impressive driving, pit strategy and cycling to keep in the top three at the checkers. The third place finish allows Crafton to claim the points lead in the Truck Series.
“At the beginning of the race, I couldn’t fire off and I was really, really loose,” Crafton said. “But at the end of the run, we’d be one of the best trucks on the race track.”
This was Crafton’s sixth top-10 finish in 11 races at the Monster Mile. He is now leading the points by five over ThorSport Racing teammate Johnny Sauter.
“It’s great to be the points leader,” Crafton continued. “We just need to keeping doing what we’re doing and running top five every week and having these top three finishes and throw a couple of wins off and see where we are at Homestead.”
The 2008 Charlotte race winner now sets his sights on a return win at Charlotte Motor Speedway next Friday night. He also competes in the ARCA Racing Series Menards 200 on Sunday afternoon at Toledo Speedway in Toledo, Ohio.
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