Crafton, Hornaday out to dethrone Busch at CMS

The saying goes, “if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best” and the best certainly will be on display when Kyle Busch straps into his No. 51 truck for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Friday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1). Of the 11 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races held at CMS, Busch has won five.

In the wake of Busch’s dominance, who can step up and challenge for the win this weekend?

Last season’s series champion and current points leader Matt Crafton may be the likeliest candidate. He finished second to Busch last week at Kansas and won the previous race, at Martinsville.

Crafton has an eight-point lead over Timothy Peters and Ron Hornaday Jr. in the standings. And if experience is an indication for future success, Crafton also holds the record for most truck starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He is the only active driver in the field this weekend that has started every NCWTS race that has been held at CMS.

Crafton also earned his first series career win at Charlotte in 2008 and has three top-five finishes in 11 starts.

After finishing the season 14th in points last year, Ron Hornaday Jr. looks back in his old championship form. The four-time series champ sits third in the standings with three top 10s this season.

Hornaday has two series wins at Charlotte (2007, ’09) and excels on 1.5-mile speedways. He has the second-most wins (11) on “1.5s” in the NCWTS behind Kyle Busch with 14.