Crafton grabs point lead with impressive Iowa effort

In the history of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Matt Crafton has been one of the most consistent and impressive performers in the venue’s previous seven events. The reigning series champion padded his Iowa stats and regained the series point lead with a third-place effort after qualifying sixth in the American Ethanol 200. Crafton entered Friday’s event as one of only two drivers to have finished in the top-10 in all seven previous NCWTS races at the Midwestern track, and extended that streak while battling a loose Menards Toyota Tundra and lapped traffic throughout the 200-lap event. The solid effort has Crafton back in the NCWTS point lead for the fourth week in 2014.

Crafton’s day started off well, showing speed early in the only practice session under partly cloudy skies, and carried that performance into the opening round of knockout pole qualifying Friday afternoon. The ThorSport Racing driver advanced to round two, in which the IDEAL Door/Menards team made two attempts at the top spot, earning the sixth starting position for the ninth race on the 2014 NCWTS schedule.

 

With a relatively green racetrack to begin the 200-lap shootout, Crafton struggled early in the event with the splitter dragging the race track and a changing balance. Quick work on pit road netted the No. 88 machine spots on numerous occasions, allowing Crafton to keep track position and run lap times consistent with the race leaders all night. In the second half of the event, Crafton focused on not over extending his equipment, and in the final 50 laps, held off a late charge to notch his fifth podium finish of the 2014 campaign, finishing third.

 

Thorsport PR