Matt Crafton will campaign in his 25th consecutive season as a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor and continue to pilot the No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 entry for ThorSport Racing.
The news comes as the three-time champion from Tulare, California, is coming off his 24th consecutive Truck season, where he recorded a single top-five result, seven top-10 results, a single lap led and an average-finishing result of 16.1. After missing the Playoffs for the first time in his career, he finished in 14th place in the final driver’s standings.
Crafton, who grew up competing in go-karts before he worked his way up to compete in the Featherlite Southwest Series, made his Truck Series debut during the 2000 finale at Auto Club Speedway, where he drove the No. 88 entry for SealMaster Racing, ThorSport Racing’s former name, to a ninth-place result. Since the start of the 2001 season, he has campaigned as a full-time competitor in the series. Aside from competing at Kevin Harvick Inc. in 2004, he has competed at ThorSport Racing through 24 seasons and has piloted the No. 88 entry in all but one of his starts with the latter organization.
Through 567 consecutive starts as a Truck Series competitor, Crafton has notched three championships, 15 race victories, 16 poles, 135 top-five results, 328 top-10 results, 2,716 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.6.
At 567 consecutive starts, Crafton has the most starts overall and the most consecutive starts in the Truck circuit to date. With three championships, he is tied with Jack Sprague for the second-most titles in the series. With 15 victories, Crafton is also ranked in 10th place on the series’ all-time wins list, with his latest race victory occurring at Kansas Speedway in July 2020.
Currently, Crafton holds the record for the most Playoff appearances in the Truck Series at eight (2016-23) and has finished in the top-10 mark in the final driver’s standings 19 times. To date, he is also the only competitor to notch back-to-back Truck titles between 2013 and 2014 and the only competitor to claim a title amid a winless season in 2019.
A key component that is new for Crafton entering the 2025 season is his crew chief as Josh Hankish will work atop the No. 88 pit box to guide the three-time series champion for his 25th consecutive campaign. Hankish made his debut as a Truck Series crew chief this past season, where he worked for ThorSport’s No. 66 Ford team that competed in 19 events and was split between Luke Fenhaus, Conner Jones, Johnny Sauter and Cam Waters. Jeriod Prince, who was Crafton’s crew chief in 2024, has been assigned to ThorSport’s No. 13 Ford team that will be piloted by Jake Garcia for a second consecutive season.
With his plans for the upcoming season set, Matt Crafton’s 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is scheduled to commence next Friday, February 14, at Daytona International Speedway for the Fresh From Florida 250. The event’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
