Matt Crafton Wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Even a 17th place qualifying start and a challenging pit position couldn’t keep the #88 Menards hot-rod of Matt Crafton out of Victory Lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday. Matt Crafton crossed the finish line 5.748 seconds ahead of the mighty Kyle Busch to win the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 with ease.

Matt Crafton started the North Carolina Education Lottery in the middle of the field and worked his way forward during the first run. Then the Damp/Menards Toyota had major issues on pit road, first sliding through his pit box and later getting blocked in his stall. The errors forced Crafton to have to re-work his way through a field of cars once again, but by Lap 78 he was fourth for a restart after Christopher Bell spun in Turn 4. two laps later.

The back-to-back victory kept the two-time defending Camping World Truck Series champion 12 points ahead of seventh place finisher Timothy Peters. It may have took the wily veteran half of the contest to break to daylight, but Matt Crafton went on to lead 47 of the 134 laps turned, including the last. Crafton was pumped up for his post race interview.

“I literally did,” Matt Crafton said. “I was like, ‘Wow!’ This thing was unbelievable from the time we dropped the green. This thing went through Turns 1 and 2 — well, the first original start, everybody got jumbled up and went through Turns 1 and 2 and then 3 and 4, and I’m like, ‘This thing feels really good right here. Then we fell back to the 20’s (after pit road issues) at that point and we started driving back through them and I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness, these boys are in trouble today.”

Second place finisher and NASCAR’s most diverse driver, Kyle Busch, limped his way into a second place finish. Busch had his SiriusXM/Toyota out front for 27 of the 134 circuits turned but suffered a suspension part failure that caused the handling of his No. 18 Tundra to tighten up.

Uncharacteristically, Busch’s team also was penalized for an uncontrolled tire during a pit stop on Lap 68, forcing the driver to restart at the rear of the field on Lap 71. That critical mistake may of cost Busch the race due to how his truck operated in traffic.

“Once we got back in traffic, it just got super, super tight,” said Busch, whose Kyle Motorsports organization also owns the trucks driven by Bell, Byron and speedster Daniel Suarez. “Something broke, and after that, it was just laying on the splitter.”

Third place fell in the hands of Johnny Sauter’s Water Pulse Sponsored Chevrolet. Sauter managed to only lead one lap but conserved  his fuel wisely and stayed out when other went in. This single feat of driving skill allowed Sauter to reach the podium.

Tyler Reddick’s #29 Cooper Standard Careers for Veterans Ford took the fourth spot. Reddick, who was just recently named to the 2016-17 NASCAR Next class, did not lead a single lap in the contest but also managed his fuel wisely for a solid top five finish. The Kyle Busch owned #11 Toyota, driven by Camping World Truck Series Rookie Matt Tifft took fifth. Tifft was the second driver that was named to the 2016-2017 NASCAR Next Class.

Thirty-eight vehicles are entered for Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Kasey Kahne won last year’s race but is not entered in the event. Defending NASCAR champion Kyle Busch was the only Sprint Cup regular entered in this event.

The 14th Annual North Carolina Education Lottery at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s 1.5 mile tri-oval took one hour and 25 minutes to complete. There were a total of three cautions for 14 turns around the venue. The lead changed hands 14 different occasions between eight different competitors. The average speed of the trucks was 114.855 miles per hour and the margin of victory was 5.748 seconds.

It was Crafton’s 13th career win in the Camping World Truck Series and he took home the Mobil 1 Driver of the Race Award for it. Matt Tifft received the Sunoco Rookie of the Race Award and Triad Racing Technologies received the Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race honors for the effort of the Menards #88.

Final Running Order for the 14th Annual North Carolina Education Lottery 200: