After a somewhat uncharacteristic like season, two-time champion Matt Crafton, earned a much deserved third place Friday night at Kentucky Speedway.
Wednesday at Eldora will mark one year since he has not won in the Truck Series. But he could break through and continue the ThorSport winning ways.
Crafton didn’t have a great qualifying effort (30th) for the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 and had to fight his way up and work his way through traffic on a track that’s tough to pass. In Stage 1, he finished sixth with a ninth-place finish in Stage 2.
At the end of the night, he earned his fourth top-five finish of the year, finishing third. But Crafton will need to win if he wants to run for the championship as he sits eighth in the Playoff standings.
“Yeah, that thing (Truck) was really fast in that first stage,” Crafton said. “Just fought a little bit free in the first stage, but it was fast. We drove to sixth and then we put the right sides on it, and for whatever reason, we got really lose. And then we put four on it right there at the end, and then it came to life. (Carl Joiner) JR, I don’t know what he did, but it finally got a lot better on entry in (Turn) 3 and I could manage, and get into there.
“All in all, not a bad day for this MENARDS Ford F-150 and great job for ThorSport.”