|
 Crafton continued his recent domination of NASCAR's intermediate
racetracks, hammering out the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
victory over an aggressive Suarez. The two-time reigning series
champion, Crafton recorded his eighth career victory by
0.569-seconds.
"I had a blast racing with Daniel there at the end," said Crafton,
who scored his third victory and seventh top-10 finish of 2015. "We
were literally running in the center of the racetrack and up against
the wall in Turns 3 and 4, and you really have to work the throttle
and drive the thing."
Crafton was cruising with a lead of 6.866-seconds over Suarez after
cycling into the lead following a round of green flag pit stops. But
a caution on Lap 149 of the scheduled 167 for fluid on the track
from the blown engine of Timothy Peters' No. 17 Red Horse Racing
Toyota Tundra bunched the field after pit stops. Crafton chose the
outside lane for the restart on Lap 154, and Suarez grabbed the lead
before Crafton was able to regain his momentum and retake the point
on Lap 155.
Crafton and Suarez were running 1-2 when rookie Daniel Hemric spun
the No. 14 California Clean Power Chevrolet in Turn 2, bringing out
the night's fifth caution. When the race went green on Lap 166,
Crafton used the outside lane to power around Suarez exiting Turn 4
en route to his third win of the season and second consecutive June
night race at TMS.
"The restarts were hairy," said Crafton, driver of the No. 88 Ideal
Door/Curb Records Toyota fielded by ThorSport Racing. "We got a
pretty good start on that last one and ran side-by-side-by-side. The
tires were newer on the first one (restart) and you can run along
the bottom wide-open. I knew if I didn't get him clear he might have
won the race."
That restart was highlighted by near-contact between the two, with
Suarez saving his truck as it began to slide down the banking.
"You mean when we were bouncing off each other?" Crafton asked with
a smile. "That was fun in Turn 1. I said, no harm, no foul."
Suarez, driver of the No. 51 ARRIS Toyota fielded by Kyle Busch
Motorsports, posted his first top-10 finish in his TMS debut and
sixth top-10 of 2015. Suarez also finished second last Friday night
to Tyler Reddick's No. 19 Bulldog Ford fielded by Brad Keselowski
Racing on Dover International Speedway's "Monster Mile."
"There was one point -- not the last one (restart) -- I really think
I had a shot (at Crafton) because we had on new tires," said Suarez,
a native of Mexico. "Maybe all of us had new tires and I was able to
be a little more aggressive. I knew the second restart, I really
tried for one lap (to take the lead) and I was so loose to the right
side of my truck. The last thing I wanted to do was wreck that fast
truck. I like to bring complete trucks back to the shop. I'm not
sure if I could do something different there. I need to see what
Matt did, what I did, what I could do better, what I could do
faster. Like I said, I do my homework and try to be better for the
next time."
John Wes Townley finished a career-best third in the No. 05 Zaxby's
Chevrolet Silverado, topping his previous best result of fourth on
the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway.
"The last caution was the break we really needed," Townley said.
"Before we had a bad set of tires and fell off quite a bit. Didn't
quite have it for Crafton, so congratulations to him. It is nice to
get a career-best and definitely be showing progress. We're getting
better and better and I've got to thank Zaxby's and Hendrick
horsepower."
Crafton won last year's event here on fuel mileage, a strategy he
and crew chief Carl "Junior" Joiner mapped-out en route to victory
on the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway last month. Crafton also prevailed
on the 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway, a sister facility to TMS, in
Race No. 2 of the season.
Crafton led a career-best 118 laps en route to victory here last
June, snapping a 26-race TMS winless streak. "All of them are
great," said Crafton, referring to his mounting win total. "Last
year, just getting that first cowboy hat (at TMS) was very sweet.
But all the victories are great."
Crafton led a race-high 77 laps to 68 for pole-sitter Erik Jones,
who experienced battery-related electrical problems in his No. 4
Special Olympics World Games Toyota after leading 68 early laps.
Jones fell a lap down during his first pit stop on Lap 83 to change
the first of three batteries and ended up 15th, two laps down.
Crafton exited Texas with a 25-point lead over Reddick headed into
the next race at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Ill., on June
13.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race - WinStar World Casino 400
[to top of second column] |
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
Friday, June 05, 2015
1. (2) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 167.
2. (3) Daniel Suarez(i), Toyota, 167.
3. (5) John Wes Townley, Chevrolet, 167.
4. (4) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 167.
5. (6) Austin Theriault #, Ford, 167.
6. (10) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 167.
7. (8) Cameron Hayley #, Toyota, 167.
8. (11) Justin Boston #, Toyota, 167.
9. (9) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 167.
10. (12) Ben Kennedy, Toyota, 167.
11. (16) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 166.
12. (13) Spencer Gallagher #, Chevrolet, 166.
13. (15) Mason Mingus, Chevrolet, 166.
14. (19) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 165.
15. (1) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 165.
16. (18) Ray Black Jr. #, Chevrolet, 164.
17. (17) Tyler Tanner, Chevrolet, 164.
18. (21) Korbin Forrister #, Chevrolet, 160.
19. (20) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 157.
20. (22) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 152.
21. (7) Timothy Peters, Toyota, Engine, 147.
22. (14) Brandon Jones #, Chevrolet, 127.
23. (24) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, Engine, 49.
24. (25) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, Engine, 47.
25. (27) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Clutch, 23.
26. (23) Justin Jennings, Chevrolet, Electrical, 12.
27. (26) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, Electrical, 10.
28. (29) Donnie Neuenberger, Chevrolet, Engine, 8.
29. (30) Michael Affarano(i), Chevrolet, Vibration, 6.
30. (28) Adam Edwards, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 5.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 134.396 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 51 Mins, 50 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.569
Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 21 laps.
Lead Changes: 19 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: E. Jones # 1-4; M. Crafton 5-10; E. Jones # 11-21; R.
Black Jr. # 22; M. Crafton 23; E. Jones # 24-71; M. Crafton 72-74;
T. Tanner 75-79; E. Jones # 80-84; M. Crafton 85-118; D. Suarez(i)
119-121; T. Peters 122-126; T. Reddick 127; C. Hayley # 128-130; J.
Boston # 131; M. Crafton 132-152; D. Suarez(i) 153-154; M. Crafton
155-164; D. Suarez(i) 165; M. Crafton 166-167.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): M. Crafton 7 times
for 77 laps; E. Jones # 4 times for 68 laps; D. Suarez(i) 3 times
for 6 laps; T. Tanner 1 time for 5 laps; T. Peters 1 time for 5
laps; C. Hayley # 1 time for 3 laps; R. Black Jr. # 1 time for 1
lap; T. Reddick 1 time for 1 lap; J. Boston # 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: M. Crafton - 305; T. Reddick - 280; E. Jones # -
273; J. Sauter - 257; J. Townley - 227; C. Hayley # - 215; D. Hemric
# - 211; S. Gallagher # - 209; T. Peters - 207; J. Boston # - 205.
-----------------------------------------------
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
