Driver of the No. 88 Menards/Ideal Door Chevrolet Silverado
LUCAS OIL 150 – FEBRUARY 25th, 2011 – PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
Ready to Head West
Sandusky, OH – February 22, 2011 – Matt Crafton returns to his favorite racetrack – Phoenix International Raceway – this week with the Menards/Ideal Door team. It’s his favorite for a reason – his 11th visit in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series comes with a lot of street credibility. In his ten appearances, he’s had three top 5 finishes and four top 10s. In 2010, he started second and finished fourth.
Notes & Quotes on PIR
ON THE RACETRACK:
“PIR is one of my favorite racetracks. I’ve been coming here since I was in diapers with my family – growing up pretty close by in California. This is one of those tracks, for those of us racers from the West Coast that you just HAVE to win. I raced this track on the old Southwest Tour when I was just starting out and won here. That gives you a lot of confidence when you’re younger, so when you come back, it means more. That was a big win for me. It’s just a lot of fun to race.”
ON RACING HIS TEAMMATE:
“Johnny (Sauter, in the No. 13 Safe Auto/Curb Records Chevrolet Silverado) and I are great teammates. We work together on the track, but we’re also racers. It’s pretty natural to know that we’re going to race each other to the checkers every race. Here at Phoenix, we’ve both qualified and finished well all the times we’ve been here. So I’m expecting it to be pretty tight at the end of the day. He’s definitely one of the ones to beat here, and I know he likes this track too. So we’re competitors, and we both like to win. We’ll see how it all goes!”
ON BEING “COACH CRAFTON”:
“Wow, that just sounds strange hearing it! I don’t think I’m actually called “coach’ anywhere…at least not by Travis! I’m the driver coach for Travis Pastrana in his K&N Pro Series races, so I’ll be helping him this week. They race on Thursday afternoon, and I think he’s really ready. It has been a lot of fun to help him get comfortable in the stock cars. We have a lot of practical jokes happening at the tests and the tracks, but he’s a serious racer. He’s getting this down pretty quickly, so look for him to be a serious competitor in the Nationwide Series this year. Hopefully, I’ve helped teach him some things!”
OVERALL VIEWPOINTS:
“Daytona is over, and we’re moving on in the season. We say it all the time – the season starts in Phoenix. This is where we’re going to see a lot of the teams start to show what they are made of in the way of finishes and points. I had an appearance at a Menard’s grand opening earlier this week, and it’s so neat to see so many fans supporting us throughout the country. I’m looking forward to a strong finish for the No. 88 Menards/Ideal Door Chevrolet this week.”
