Matt Crafton Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS — Rajah Caruth made a promise after taking the checkered flag in the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  “There’s more to come, for sure,” said the 21-year-old Spire Motorsports driver moments after securing his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win from the pole position in Friday night’s race.  An alumnus of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, Caruth is the third African-American driver to win a NASCAR national series race, joining Hall of Famer Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace. Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Carson Hocevar secured his first NASCAR CRATSMAN Truck Series Championship 4 appearance with a victory Saturday in the Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway earning all four of his career series wins this season – the trophy Saturday most impactful among them. Hocevar put his No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet into the lead with 11 laps remaining and held off the hard-charging Zane Smith by 2.705-seconds to claim the win over the reigning series champion, whose runner-up effort was disqualified by NASCAR after a post-raceRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Superspeedway racing usually delivers plenty of drama on-track, but in Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega, the drama spilled off the track and into the garage. It all began with a wreck coming to two laps to go in regulation when Nicholas Sanchez and Matt Crafton made contact in the tri-oval, triggering the “Big One,” a crash involving 10 cars that brought out the second red flag of the day and sent the race into overtime. Sanchez was able to continueRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service After Carson Hocevar crashed a two-driver party, pole winner Grant Enfinger rallied for victory in Sunday’s Clean Harbors 175 at the Milwaukee Mile and clinched a spot in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs. Enfinger, who led 95 of 175 laps, passed Hocevar for the top spot on Lap 159 and pulled away to win his third race of the season by 1.553 seconds. Hocevar was gambling on older tires and led the field to green for the finalRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CLERMONT, Ind.—Ty Majeski’s timing was impeccable.  Winless this season before Friday night’s TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Majseki put an old-fashioned beating on the rest of the field in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoff opener.  The driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford cemented a spot in the Playoffs’ Round of 8 in dominating fashion, leading 179 of 200 laps, sweeping the first two stages of the race and beating pole winner and runner-up Christian Eckes to the finishRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – Carson Hocevar’s race started in the pits with a flat tire even before the green flag for Saturday night’s Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and ended with a celebration in Victory Lane. The 20-year-old driver of the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet passed the night’s most dominant driver Ty Majeski with only three laps remaining thanks to pit road strategy and a fast Chevy Silverado to claim his third win of the season by 2.308-seconds over Majeski. “We didn’tRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. – Kyle Larson proved an admirable substitute on Saturday at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Subbing for injured Alex Bowman, who had been scheduled to race the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, Larson led 138 of 252 laps in winning the Tyson 250 in overtime. Larson is the first driver to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race at revitalized North Wilkesboro in 27 years. The victory was Larson’s third in 15 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts. At the end of the two-lap overtime, Larson beatRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service  BRISTOL, Tenn. — Moonlighting in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series on Saturday night, Joey Logano performed the perfect Bristol Stomp in winning the Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt. The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion swept the first two stages of the race at Bristol Motor Speedway’s Dirt Track, led 138 of the 150 laps and crossed the finish line 1.241 seconds ahead of ThorsSport Racing teammate Ty Majeski. “My fun meter was pegged tonight,” said Logano, who won the second Truck Series raceRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – Christian Eckes finished where he started Saturday’s Fr8 208 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway—with a lot of turmoil in between.  Eckes claimed his second victory in the series in overtime, choosing the bottom lane and front-row position for a restart on lap 136 of 137.   After leading the first 30-lap stage of the race wire-to-wire, however, Eckes sped on pit road and lost track position. He spent the rest of the event working his way backRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — On the fifth try, rain finally got the better of Daytona International Speedway—and that was perfectly all right with reigning NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Zane Smith. NASCAR called Friday night’s NextEra Energy 250 after 79 of a scheduled 100 laps, making Smith the winner when the fifth rain shower of the evening thwarted track-drying efforts.  In front of the largest crowd for a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Daytona since 2011, Smith won the season opener for theRead More