Matt Crafton (88) battling at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: Josh James | The Podium Finish)
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Matt Crafton has had a strong start to the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.
After one of the worst statistical seasons in Crafton’s career, the 47-year-old driver has finished inside the top 10 in two of the first three races and sits seventh in the point standings.
Heading into Saturday night’s Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the only thing missing is a trip to Victory Lane, something Crafton has been searching for since the 2020 season.
During qualifying on Saturday afternoon, the Fords struggled, only having one truck inside of the top 10. This would leave Crafton with work to do, as the No. 88 Great Lakes Flooring/Menards Ford F-150 rolled off in the 20th position.
There were two early cautions once the race went green, including a Lap 6 incident for Matt Mills, who spun out, and the other for Keith McGee on Lap 44.
Meanwhile, Crafton made minimal progress through the field up to that point. On Lap 48, while under caution, six trucks came down pit road, allowing Crafton to make up some positions and restart in 15th when the race restarted on Lap 53. Then, Crafton made up one more position to finish Stage 1 in 14th.
Only five trucks decided to come down pit road during the caution for the end of Stage 1, allowing Crafton to gain a few more positions for the start of Stage 2.
The entirety of Stage 2 went caution-free, creating a long run that allowed Crafton to begin to climb up the leaderboard, finishing the stage in eighth place.
After the conclusion of the stage, all of the lead lap trucks came down pit road under caution on Lap 136 as Crafton restarted in Row 3 on the outside lane when Stage 3 went green on Lap 143.
On Lap 144, Crafton’s ThorSport Racing teammate Ty Majeski got loose while battling Tyler Ankrum for third, sliding up the track right in front of Crafton, who was able to slow down and avoid Majeski.
Ben Rhodes was not as fortunate, as Majeski slid down the track leaving Rhodes nowhere to go, running into Majeski’s No. 98 truck.
The incident moved Crafton up to the fourth position for the following restart. On Lap 162, Crafton passed Ankrum to take the third position.
Matt Crafton (88) fighting hard at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: Josh James | The Podium Finish)
A green flag run allowed the battle for the lead between Christian Eckes and Kyle Busch to heat up, even seeing the two drivers go side-by-side. This allowed Crafton to run down the leaders and join the fight, even racing Busch for the second position.
The fight for the lead was put on hold on Lap 219. Nick Sanchez and Stewart Friesen made contact bringing out a caution that set up a late-race restart with only 23 laps to go.
Crafton restarted in third behind Busch in the bottom lane, but the bottom lane got a bad restart, causing Crafton to fall back a few positions. Crafton was able to rebound quickly and settle in the fourth position where he would end up finishing as Eckes went on to hold off Busch to claim victory for the first time in 2024.
The fourth place finish for Crafton results in his best finish of the season as well first top-five finish of the new campaign.
“We just needed longer runs,” Crafton said to Peter Stratta after the race. “Our short run speed wasn’t terrible, but not as good as it needed to be to run with those guys for a minute.”
If not for the Lap 219 caution and the race went green, Crafton may have been the winner.
“We would mow the leaders down every time we’d make a longer run.” Crafton shared, “Right there at the end, the last two, three laps we were one of the fastest trucks on track. We just needed a long run.”
Crafton will look to carry over this momentum at Circuit of the Americas, where the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race next on Saturday, Mar. 23.
