Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, site of Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kroger 250, proved why it’s a “timeless” venue for some of the best short-track racing action on the circuit. Starting 13th, Matt Crafton, driver of the No. 88 Hormel® Pepperoni/Menards Toyota Tundra, muscled his way through traffic early in the 250-lap event to pass pole sitter, Joey Logano, for the lead on lap 111. The ThorSport Racing driver showed how strong his Tundra was, leading 67 of the 68 ensuing laps before a series of late-race cautions saw the defending race winner battle it out for the lead with Sprint Cup Series regular, Logano, and Kyle Busch Motorsports stand-out Erik Jones with just over 50 laps remaining.
In what seemed like the “race winning pass,” Crafton was able to prevail from a fierce battle with Logano to take the lead on lap 245 of 250 before rookie, Cole Custer bumped the rear of the No. 88 machine, passing both Crafton and Logano for the lead. Just two laps later, Crafton, who used a similar move to get past Custer, took over the top spot and looked like he was going to make it back-to-back wins before Custer spun on the frontstretch, bringing out the ninth and final caution of the afternoon and setting the field up for a green-white-checker finish. Unfortunately, Logano was able to get by Crafton on the restart, forcing the No. 88 machine to cross the line in the second position, his seventh top-five finish in 27 starts at the half-mile “paperclip.”
Quote:
“This Menards Toyota Tundra was good. It took a few laps to get going. I had the lead early and there towards the end, but the 4 (Erik Jones), and the 29 (Joey Logano) got by me. I was just not that good on the short run, but it would keep coming to me and coming to me. I never touched the 29 earlier whenever I passed him and then he just kept putting the bumper to me and I was like, ‘well, it’s the race for the lead here,’ and I wasn’t going to move him. We got in there side by side and I got a little bit loose in there and the 00 (Cole Custer) came in there and just pounded us. Its racing I guess. All-in-all a good day for us, we led laps, finished well, and took over the points lead.”
Thorsport PR
