Matt Crafton Can Clinch the 2013 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship Tonight

Matt Crafton, from Tulare, California, has been a staple in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as he has competed full time every year since the 2001 season. His 13th full time season is about to end in his first career championship. He can clinch tonight at Phoenix International Raceway.

This season will mark the ninth time Crafton has finished in the top 10 in points. His previous best was a runner up in the 2009 season. The 2013 season has been a consistent one for Crafton in the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota as he has 18 top 10 finishes in the 20 races. He has remarkably completed all 3,093 laps this season in the Truck Series. His lone win came on April 20th at Kansas Speedway.

Entering the Lucas Oil 150 on Friday night Crafton holds a 46 point lead on James Buescher and 47 on Ty Dillon. If Crafton wins he will clinch the title no matter where Buescher or Dillon finish.

“It’s very, very cool to be able to have the chance to be that close to being able to lock it up this weekend,” said Crafton. “And this is one of my favorite racetracks – you can call it my home track. I’ve ran a ton of laps around here in Late Models and everything, so I look forward to it. We’ve got a lot of family and friends and people coming out to just hang out and just watch the race each and every year. So, it would be a very cool deal to hopefully win the damn thing.”

Crafton can also clinch without winning if he is 49 points ahead of the second place driver after the race. That means he would need to beat Buescher by three spots and Dillon by two spots on the track to assure himself that he will not need to worry about the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Even if the 37-year-old doesn’t leave Phoenix with the title clinched he should feel pretty safe about winning it in the season finale. It would take two devastating races for him not to win.

The race can be seen tonight at 8 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.

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