Crafton’s streak continues

 

It doesn’t happen very often.

As a matter of fact, it’s only happened four times in the history of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Heading into Pocono for Saturday’s Pocono Mountains 125 (1 p.m. ET, SPEED), Matt Crafton carries a streak with him that is rather impressive.

He’s only the fourth driver in the series to begin a season with 10 consecutive top 10s.

In 1996, Ron Hornaday Jr. opened the season with a string of 19 consecutive top-10 finishes. Two years later, Jack Sprague accomplished the feat by putting together 12 top 10s in a row to start off the 1998 season. 

The most recent driver to do this was Mike Skinner in 2007, when he finished in the top 10 in the first 13 races.

That is until this season.

In the first 10 races of 2013, Crafton has finishes of ninth, second, sixth, first, fourth, second, fourth, 10th, sixth and eighth. His sole victory came in April at Kansas.

His consistency has provided him with a 48-point cushion over Jeb Burton, who is currently second in the standings. Crafton, however, is not taking the lead for granted.

“We’ve got a decent lead, but it’s not comfortable because you can lose all that in a heartbeat if we don’t take care of business like we have been,” Crafton said.

Over the last three years, he’s had success at the Tricky Triangle. In the truck series’ inaugural event there in 2010, Crafton finished third. He followed that up with eighth- and fourth-place performances in 2011 and 2012, respectively.