Matt Crafton Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — While he may just be in a fill-in role until his son Todd turns 18, David Gilliland is making good use of the Kyle Busch Motorsports horsepower at his disposal by winning the pole for Friday night’s NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona. Gilliland, the 2007 Daytona 500 polesitter, was the fastest in the first round of qualifying and backed it up in the second round with a lap of 49.017 seconds, 183.610 mph, to score his first career pole inRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After announcing last week that they would be parting ways with Toyota, Thorsport Racing announced on Monday that they will be moving their operation over to the Ford Perfromance camp, running the manufacturer’s F-Series truck for the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season. Ford looked to be on the outs in the Truck Series after their main team, Brad Keselowski Racing, shuttered operations at the end of the 2017 season, but Monday’s news gives both the manufacturer and Thorsport new life heading into 2018.Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With less than a month until the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season begins at Daytona, ThorSport Racing announced on Tuesday that they will be parting ways with manufacturer Toyota. Thorsport has had a successful run with Toyota since the 2012 season, when they made the switch over from Chevrolet. In their six years together, Thorsport captured two championships in 2013 and 2014, 19 wins, 117 top-five finishes, 227 top-10 finishes, 10 poles, and 2900 laps led in Toyota-powered trucks. Last season, Matt CraftonRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Three red flags told the story of Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway. The third of the three gave defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter the chance he needed to win the race that set the field for next Friday’s championship event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. When Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates Christopher Bell and Noah Gragson wrecked during an intense side-by-side duel with seven laps left, Sauter inherited the lead for a restart on Lap 149 ofRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Blowing around two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton after a restart with 10 laps left, 19-year-old Noah Gragson scored his first victory in Saturday’s Texas Roadhouse 200 at Martinsville Speedway. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender frustrated Playoff competitors Crafton and Johnny Sauter, who finished second and third behind him. After talking the checkered flag, Gragson parked his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota near the flag stand and climbed to the top of the frontstretch catchfence in celebration. AfterRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Christopher Bell has been the man to beat throughout the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season and with a place in the Round of Six already locked down, the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver will roll off first in Saturday’s Fred’s 250 at Talladega, which will be a playoff elimination race for his fellow drivers not yet locked in. After Saturday’s race, the current eight driver playoff field will be cut down to six. Bell and Ben Rhodes are already locked in, but the finalRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After 16 races, the final spot in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs would come down to a tiebreaker, with the best finish of the season determining who moved on and who would be left on the outside looking in. Coming into Friday night’s race at Chicagoland Speedway, that final spot was down to two drivers, Ben Rhodes and Ryan Truex, with just seven points separating the two when the green flag flew. Though Truex had a better night overall, it was Rhodes thatRead More

By Chris Knight, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Not even a NASCAR overtime could stop Kyle Busch from rallying back from a speeding penalty at the end of Stage 2 to win Wednesday night’s UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Busch, forced to the back of the field under penalty to start the final stage, put on a clinic on a Lap 119 restart and utilized the high line to roar through the field and find himself back in the top-10 by Lap 136. Nearly 30 laps later, Busch foundRead More

By: Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LONG POND, Pa. – With his boss out of the race, Christopher Bell filled the void, pulling away to win the Overton’s 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Saturday at Pocono Raceway. Bell overtook John Hunter Nemechek on Lap 54 of 60 at the 2.5-mile triangular track and finished 1.964 seconds ahead of runner-up Ben Rhodes, who passed Nemechek for the second position on Lap 56. One circuit later Ryan Truex Jr. took the third spot from Nemechek, who held on to fourthRead More

By Chris Knight, NASCAR Wire Service ROSSBURG, Ohio – Using a late-race restart 18 laps from the finish and a strategy to ‘go where the others aren’t,’ Matt Crafton muscled past veteran dirt racer Stewart Friesen to win Wednesday night’s fifth annual Eldora Dirt Derby 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway. Over the last forty laps of the race, Crafton patiently worked his way from the bottom of the top-10 and took advantage of a Lap 127 caution to position himself to challenge a dominant Friesen forRead More