After the craziness was all settled and over, the finish pylon showed ThorSport Racing’s Matt Crafton ninth at Talladega, but the top 10 finish didn’t come easy for the two-time champion.
In the first two stages, Crafton finished inside the top 10 and earned championship playoff points with a sixth in Stage 1 and a fifth in Stage 2. However, on lap 55, the No. 88 Menards Tundra driver was involved in a five-truck accident in Turn 3. This caused some significant damage to the truck, forcing the No. 88 team to fix it and get it back out there for points.
In the remaining laps, Crafton was in the top 10 until another accident took place after the field took the white flag. It was the same number of trucks involved in the first incident, and again, Crafton was unfortunately involved in the melee.
Despite the challenges that came Crafton’s way on Saturday, the 41-year-old earned his 13th top-10 of the year and advanced to the next round of the playoffs that begins at Martinsville Speedway.
“We were strong all day – ran inside the top 10, top five, most of the afternoon,” Crafton said. “Unfortunately, we were just at the wrong place, at the wrong time today and got caught up in someone else’s mess. After the damage, we just tried to make the best of our day. We were lucky enough to bring home a top-10 finish, and make it into the Round of 6. I’m looking forward to the tracks in this Round.”
The Truck Series is off this weekend but returns Saturday, Oct. 28 at Martinsville Speedway for the Texas Roadhouse 200 at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.
