Matt Crafton Tag

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

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Ty Majeski took a big step to solidify himself as the championship “favorite” with a victory in Saturday’s Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway – the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season finale to set the Championship 4 field for the 2022 title race in two weeks. The 28-year old Wisconsin native led a race best 67 of 134 laps, his No. 66 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra crossing the finish line a convincing 4.524-seconds ahead of Zane Smith’sRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Ty Majeski downplayed his final run in Thursday night’s UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics at Bristol Motor Speedway as “just another restart.” In reality, it was the most important moment to date in Majeski’s hardscrabble career. Streaking away from Zane Smith after a restart with 12 laps left in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ Round of 8 Playoff race, Majeski scored the first NASCAR national series victory of his career and claimed the first berth in the Nov. 4 Championship 4 finaleRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – The first truck off pit road controlled the race.  That was the story of Chandler Smith’s dominating victory in Saturday night’s Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond Raceway.  Smith took charge of the second event in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoff when he won the race off pit road under caution on lap 75—during the break between the first and second stages.  That was the ballgame. Smith led the final 175 laps through two cautions, one for the second stageRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BROWNSBURG, Ind. – The 2022 edition of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs started on the right foot for Grant Enfinger and GMS Racing, as he scored the victory in Friday night’s TSport 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. With the win, Enfinger automatically advances to the second round of the Playoffs, allowing him and the team to be able to look further down the road and prepare for the tracks in the crucial Round of 8, which will determine which drivers will be racing forRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LEBANON, Tenn. – His tires chattering with age over the final few laps, Ryan Preece held off charging Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar to win Friday night’s Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.  The victory was the second straight for David Gilliland Racing, after Todd Gilliland won last Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on dirt at Knoxville Raceway in the No. 17 Ford, the same number Preece drove on Friday.  The win was an encore performance for Preece, who scored his firstRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KNOXVILLE, Iowa—Moonlighting in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Todd Gilliland took control of Saturday night’s Clean Harbors 150 after the sun set on Knoxville Raceway.  Gilliland grabbed the lead from John Hunter Nemechek for the final time on Lap 140 of 150 and pulled away after a restart on Lap 147 to beat Nemechek to the finish line by .945 seconds and win in his first start of the season and for the third time in his career.  On the eve of Father’sRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH –  It was a hard-earned, deeply-appreciated victory for Stewart Friesen in Friday night’s SpeedyCash.com 220 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway – the first win for the popular Canadian driver since November 2019. His 60 laps out front in the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota more than doubled his year-long total laps led and were enough to land his first win in the last 53 races and to secure his place in the 2022 Playoffs. Friesen, 38,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Leading 108 of 134 laps, Zane Smith dominated Saturday night’s Heart of America 200 and staved off a late charge from Ty Majeski at Kansas Speedway to record his NASCAR Camping World Series-leading third victory of the season.  After a restart with eight laps left, Smith pulled away from Majeski and crossed the finish line with a comfortable 1.653 seconds to spare. The runner-up finish was a career-best for Majeski.  “It was really just an unbelievable truck,” said Smith, whoRead More