NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Team Reports
GM Racing Team Chevy
Matt Crafton Scores Career-First Win at Charlotte
Matt Crafton, No. 88 Menards/McGuire-Nicholas Silverado, scored a dramatic win in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (LMS). The victory was the Tulare, CA native’s first in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition.
Crafton, who started 18th, steadily worked his way through the field to be a contender in the top-10 of the running order. As the race, scheduled for 134-laps/201-miles, began to wind down, he had moved his way to the top-five.
When the race leaders encountered trouble one by one that slowed the race four times in the last 20-laps, Crafton stormed to the lead on lap 128 only to lose it one lap later, but grabbed it back again on lap 130.
When the race’s final caution that sent it in to overtime for a green-white-checkered finish on lap 137, Crafton had the best restart of his life and held on to take the checkered flag.
Crafton’s win vaulted Chevrolet to the lead in the NCTS manufacturers’ standings.
Chad McCumbee, No. 8 Malcolmson Construction Silverado followed Crafton across the line for second in the finishing order to score his career-best finish.
Ron Hornaday, No. 33 Camping World Silverado finished in 23rd after getting caught up in one of the late race on-track incidents. The three-time NCTS champion maintained the points lead with six of 25 races in the books.
The series moves to Mansfield, Ohio for round seven on May 24, 2008.
MATT CRAFTON (NO. 88 MENARDS/MCGUIRE-NICHOLAS SILVERADO)
STARTED 18TH, RACE WINNER: TALK ABOUT THAT FIRST CAREER WIN.
"It was awesome. Perseverance pays off and we never gave up and we've got a really good crew. We've got great owners, Duke and Rhonda Thorson and everyone did awesome. Crew chief was awesome and everyone was behind me and I believed in them and that's what it's all about in this deal. Just never give up and put yourself in the right position each and every week and you're gonna get a win. I've won in a lot of series, everything I've ever raced in. It's been a black cloud following me for a long time. Finally the black cloud has moved along and maybe we can get a few more this year."
Take us through that last lap and let us know what you were thinking of on that green/white/checkered there.
"I always remember that a guy was telling me, Dan Press, was telling me to flip the mirror up when you are leading the race at the end of the race and look out the front of the windshield. He said as soon as you start looking backwards that you are already halfway beat, so I never looked back and looked out that front windshield and drove my tail off. And I knew I wasn't going to lift I can promise you that. That green/white/checkered, when (the race) went green (the pedal) never came off the floor and going into two it was going to be checkers or wreckers and we finally got it."
It says in baseball you have to be a hell of a pitcher to lose twenty games, but in racing you have to be a hell of a driver to go 178 races and still be there. Don't you think that says a lot for the respect that people have for you?
"Yeah. I mean I was in an interview today and we've put ourselves in position the last few years. Just putting ourselves in position each and every race. Sooner or later you are going to get the wins and now we've done that. We had a really good truck two weeks ago in Kansas and got it taken away from us. We had a really good truck in Martinsville and you go back each and every week and we've had an awesome truck and these guys just bing us great equipment every week and put us in position to win and that is what it’s all about, teamwork."
Did you ever think this day would never come?
"Yeah, I mean I was honestly beginning to wonder if it was going to come. It’s just been a thorn in my side and I promise you there has not been a day that's gone by over the past five or six years that I haven't woken up and thought about it and thought, man am I going to get one of these wins or am I just going to go on and not get one and you just are going to be known for finishing second, finishing third, and always being the bridesmaid, but finally we got it."
"I can't thank Duke and Rhonda Thorson enough the money they put out of their own pocket. John Menard and all the sponsors that are on that truck with Menard's and ThorSport and this whole race team. There are just so many trucks out here that have blank quarter panels, blank hoods and you look at our truck and we've got a truck that has a lot of sponsors on it and I can't thank those people enough."
After this win what was is like to pull into victory lane?
"Like my crew chief said, I am just still so numb at this point that it’s like, is it real? It’s been such a long time since I have been able to do that and been able to do one of those burnouts. You can't even imagine how long I have been waiting to do one of those burnouts again. I finally got to do it and put these guys in victory lane."
CHAD MCCUMBEE (NO. 8 MALCOLMSON CONSTRUCTION SILVERADO)
STARTED 7TH, FINISHED 2ND:
You almost had a chance to win, you got to be excited. Take us through the race and your emotions right now.
“Well you know we had a little bit of a radiator problem early in the race and we had a miss communication and didn’t know if we were supposed to pit and I was supposed to pit. We ended up staying out leading a lap and unfortunately there was a bunch of green-flag runs right after that. It was tough to make up a lot track position. It was a long hard-fought night. I was obviously extremely excited about second-place but kind of bitter sweet because that close to first win. Congratulations to Matt Crafton and them guys. They’ve been building this track for so long and not getting it so congratulations to them. Got to thank the good Lord above, we were moving through a lot of traffic there, bouncing off walls and all kinds of stuff, still to come home second like I said that’s just more momentum for these guys at MRD.”
Take us through the last lap, it didn’t look like you came up to speed.
“Yeah, Matt brake-checked me just a little bit and the second gear ratio wasn’t going to work for that at all. We missed it just a little bit. We’re learning week in and week out. We didn’t quite up to speed like we wanted to on the start but was right back on his bumper going through one and two. Actually it worked out better because I had kept getting little runs and I knew he was certain to go on the outside, I knew if I was going to go to the bottom I had to do it last car on the last lap, so I was really and truly just biding my time, set it up in one and two, backed off a little bit. Thought I had that run down the back and he blocked me a little bit getting into three so I tried the high side, I think some bumps and bruises on the truck there had it a little bit too snug to get us around on the outside. Come real close a couple of time, like I said just can’t thank everybody at MRD enough, that was a great performance for us.”
Talk about that last lap.
“I tried to set him up and I had him set up there in one and two. We bounced off the wall there just racing real hard and knocked the tow in a little bit and made me just a little bit too tight and I couldn’t get him and if we didn’t do that I think I could have got him. I had the run on the white flag in one and two and I backed it up and had to run down the back. He jumped to the inside and I wasn’t going to get into him. He’s a super clean racer and he’s always raced me real clean. We were both going for our first wins and he’s had a lot more starts than I have so I can’t be happier for those guys.”
LANDON CASSILL (NO. 46 GODADDY.COM SILVERADO)
STARTED 8TH, FINISHED 9TH:
You had a pretty good run tonight. Tell me about your ninth place finish. Looked like you were mixing it up pretty good up there.
"Absolutely, the GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Silverado was pretty good all night. We had a great start to the race and I made a little mistake of giving up some positions on the outside during a restart there one time. You know we fought hard from there and didn't give up and the Morgan-Dollar Motorsports team gave me a great Chevy Silverado and we had a good showing for GoDaddy.com and that's what we came to do."
RON HORNADAY (NO. 33 CAMPING WORLD SILVERADO)
STARTED 2ND, FINISHED 23rd:
"It was just unfortunate. I made a clean pass and he (Bodine) just got under me and turned me. We'll talk about it eventually and move on. Everybody wants to win and things happen. We'll just have to move on and have a strong run at Mansfield We lost a few points tonight, but still have the lead and in the big picture, that is our goal, to win another championship for Camping .World, Chevrolet and everyone at Kevin Harvick, Inc."
Ford Racing
BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No. 10 Int’l MAXXFORCE Diesel Ford F-150)
(Finished 3rd)
“Chad McCumbee and congratulations to Matt Crafton. He deserves a win so much and to watch two young kids, Crafton and Chad go at it. I told Chad, I said, ‘If you could have just hit him one more time.’ We made a great run at it. That’s a brand new Circle Bar Ford from our shop. Curt and the guys in the fab shop built it. It’s been to the wind tunnel and did all the stuff with it. I’m so proud of all those guys. Thanks to Rick Crawford for bringing me here and Ford for taking the chance, and the Maxx Force guys. Man, I haven’t had this much fun in years. My dad smiling on the pit box, this is just like old times. We can do this every week. Me and Rick, top five, we’re gonna start making some headway.”
DID YOU THINK YOU HAD A CHANCE ON THE LAST RESTART?
“Absolutely. Gator does my transmissions here and years ago a man named Dwayne Knorr kind of helped me on my restarts. Gator builds them for me just like I had them and we were great on restarts. I love it and I had a chance. They both did a good job. They had a little bit better truck tonight, but they started banging and I thought I had a chance. That’s what a green-white-checker is all about.”
RICK CRAWFORD (No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel by Int’l Ford F-150)
(Finished 5th)
“How about that? A third-place finish and to come from where we were in practice with this Ford F-150. Ford Racing – Drive one. I enjoy it week in and week out and I’ve been doing it for a long time. How about this finish? Look at the big picture. Chasing down the point leader. He didn’t have such a good night tonight and congratulations to Matt Crafton, a guy that’s been racing in the series almost as long as I have and tonight his first win here at Charlotte. But a top-five finish for the Ford Power Stroke Diesel by International team. What a night. Kevin Starland told me in qualifying. He said, ‘Now I can fix it.’ In practice we had a tough time, but he said, ‘Now I can fix it,’ and he did and it ran some good, fast laps all night long.”
DID YOU THINK THERE MIGHT BE ONE MORE WRECK AND YOU AND BRENDAN WOULD HAVE BATTLED FOR THE WIN?
“Yeah and I could have probably just asked him to move over and win the thing. No, Brendan Gaughan is a great race car driver. I was glad to have him as an addition to my team. He just fits in perfectly. His guys have been working on that truck. This was a brand new truck they had tonight and to have a top three with it says a lot for the Circle Bar Racing team, along with the Maxx Force Diesel.”
ERIK DARNELL (No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150)
(Finished 4th)
“It’s disappointing. Our Northern Tool + Equipment Ford was awesome tonight. The 51 was tough, but I felt like we were about equal to him in the middle of the race. On that last restart, I don’t know. The way I read the rule, the leader sets the pace. I knew Johnny was hanging back a little bit, so I was just kind of waiting. We weren’t even to the double red lines yet and I hadn’t fired off. He took off and went and got up on the outside there and, unfortunately, it ruined our race for us. It would have been a good race between me and him at the end. I know I think he was a tick better than us. He had a little bit fresher tires than we did. I’m just disappointed. I’m kind of kicking myself right now because I lost that race for us. It should have been a win or a second right there with him and I screwed it up tonight.”
SO YOU DIDN’T HAVE A PROBLEM ON THE RESTART OR SPINNING THE TIRES OR ANYTHING?
“No, I wasn’t having a problem with spinning the tires, but it just felt like I couldn’t get going in second gear. I felt like that from the start of the race. I noticed on one restart when Travis was behind me that it looked like he was having the same problem getting going, so it’s frustrating and disappointing.”
COLIN BRAUN (No. 6 Con-Way Freight Ford F-150) (Finished 15th) “The Con-Way Freight No. 6 Ford F-150 was great. We had a really fast truck. I thought we had a truck to win the race. We made our last pit stop there and got some great final adjustments in the truck. Mike Beam did a really good job. I think that pit call was absolutely the right thing to do. It put us back there a little bit, but on fresh tires our truck was so fast that it was the right thing to do. The 51 and 33 both did it and I thought we were a little bit faster than those guys, so I think that was the right thing to do. It’s just unfortunate that they all had to wreck up there. It’s a little disappointing when there’s thirty-something laps to go and there’s a wreck for 10th place, but that’s the way racing goes and, unfortunately, we got caught up in it.”
YOU SHOWED SOME PATIENCE RACING HORNADAY EARLIER. WAS THAT A CASE OF HOW MUCH YOU’RE LEARNING IN THIS SERIES?
“That was just a case where we had a faster truck at the time and, really, on the inside we were both slowed down. We were losing about half-a-second a lap and by doing that, we were trying to catch the other guys in second and third. I just wanted to fall back single-file and then knew he’d run up the race track and we would get past him. We got back ahead of him and pulled out to a pretty big lead and then we started to tighten up. When he got back to me, I just let him go. I figured that was the more veteran thing to do. I’m trying to learn from these guys. Hornaday obviously didn’t want to let it go that easy, but I tried to gain a little bit of respect from those guys by doing that and, hopefully, that pays off down the road a little bit.”
TRAVIS KVAPIL (No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford F-150)
(Finished 18th)
“It’s been a rough weekend. I thought we were really gonna have a chance to win here tonight. We had a great truck here last year and going off those notes I thought we were gonna have a good shot at it, but we hurt that first truck. We popped a tire and I really thought we got this truck up to speed in practice and I was pretty confident in it, but we just started the race off too tight. We were just a little bit off the leaders and during the long green-flag run we ended up going a lap down. I think we put scuffed tires on it under that green-flag stop and that one set of tires in particular was really tight. We lost a lot of time and lap times were really slow. Once we got them back off there, it looked like the truck was OK again, but we were trapped a lap down and just kind of stuck there.”
BRENDAN GAUGHAN PRESS CONFERENCE:
“It was a heck of a night. We qualified 29th and I wasn’t worried about it one bit. Bryan Berry and the Circle Bar guys build me race trucks and not qualifying trucks. We knew we had a decent piece, but it’s a long night. It’s a battle. Bryan came in for some adjustments and from there it was just keep driving. The guys had great pit stops. We did a two-tire stop under green and kept us on the lead lap and did a great job just trying to hold onto it. I’m just proud as all can be of my guys on pit road. They did such an outstanding job, and then we brought home a brand new Ford F-150 in third and Rick Crawford right behind him in fifth. You can’t knock that for Circle Bar. The top two Fords and I was just rooting for Chad and Matt to bang one more time. If they hit each other one more time, I had a chance but I’ve got to say a huge congratulations for Matt Crafton. I’m extremely proud of him and excited for him and it’s been a long time coming.”
IS THIS YOUR BEST FINISH HERE?
“No, I finished second in 2003 to Ted Musgrave, but it’s my best run here in a very, very long time.”
Toyota Motorsports
TERRY COOK (No. 60 Wyler.com Toyota Tundra)
Wyler Racing Finished: 6th
How was your race tonight, and how do you think your backup truck handled?
"We weren't real good here tonight, but we came out of here with a sixth-place finish after going to a backup truck. The backup truck wasn't quite what we needed tonight as far as setup. The thing would run up top really well but I had to run up against the fence all the way around the track and there were a lot of guys running the same line I was. The tire combination here just isn't quite where we need to be at. Goodyear brought a good tire here but it's not the tire we need to put on a great show for the fans.
"It was really hard to run side-by-side. We saw a lot of accidents because of it. I'm just happy to bring it home in one piece with a solid finish after the way our day started."
KYLE BUSCH (No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts/NOS Energy Tundra)
Billy Ballew Motorsports Finished: 8th
Can you talk about the incident you had with Ron Hornaday?
"I've learned in these things, that when you get to the outside of someone you tend to make them loose. I tried giving him room by getting up the race track. I heard him gas up, and when he did, he drove up the race track a little bit and got right on my door. It took his air away and sucked him around. My truck, I guess, was glued to the race track way better than his, and I could hold it down on the bottom on the white line better. I was able to make passes all night. It's just unfortunate. I hate it most for these guys at Billy Ballew Motorsports. The guys that work on them and put these things together. We don't have many of them. It's good, hard racing, going out there and getting after it, but we still had 30-something laps to go. It wasn't like it was three laps to go door-to-door for the win. We still had plenty of time to duke it out. I was trying to get to the front, and get up to see those boys and try to race with the rest of the guys when we got behind on track position. Man, that thing was strong
tonight. That Toyota Tundra was just awesome."
MIKE SKINNER (No. 5 Toyota Tundra/Banner Sales Event Toyota Tundra)
Bill Davis Racing Finished: 10th
How was your race tonight, and how was the action from your standpoint?
"We started out awesome. I don't know what happened to our truck, but we started out awesome. We were great, then we came down pit road and put four tires on it. I didn't even want any adjustments on it, the truck was great. The truck got extremely loose and everything they did to it after that just made it worse. It was a horrible night. I guess it wasn't as bad as some of the others. We weren't fast enough to jack anybody up, spin them out or wreck them, so we just rode around and finished where we could."
JOHNNY BENSON (No. 23 Exide Batteries Toyota Tundra)
Bill Davis Racing Finished: 11th
Can you talk about the pass on Erik Darnell for the lead, and the penalty from NASCAR?
"He spun the wheels and we got by. I'm a little confused over the penalty. I'm confused. I did everything that the rulebook tells you to do. It's a judgment call on their side, and I don't know why they judged it that way because it wasn't even close."
What was your first thought after they issued the penalty?
"My first thought was that they had the wrong number. There was no way. We've seen guys pass three or four trucks. If he just decided to not go, why did he pull to the left? He pulled to the left because he spun the wheels. He got loose and spun the wheels, and I went around him. That's a classic great start. He spun the wheels. I don't know if they want us to run into the back of him. I don't know what they want us to do. I was told by one of officials that I can't go until he goes. That's not the rule. The rule is that when the green comes up, you pass to the right before the line, and that's what I did."
Will you go to NASCAR to ask for an explanation?
"The damage is already is done. They don't seem to give a really good explanation of some things. Sometimes they do. I got into a slight argument with them on the Martinsville deal. There are a lot of things that I don't understand. They can't fix it.They can't say that they're going to put us back in second where we belong. That's not going to happen. What are you going to do? The damage is done."
TODD BODINE (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota Tundra)
Germain Racing Finished: 12th
What happened when your truck connected with Ron Hornaday?
"The sad thing is I was honestly trying to help Ron (Hornaday). I was trying to push him up the mat and the last shot I gave him at the start-finish line turned him sideways and turned him in the infield. I didn't try to wreck him. I was trying to help the guy. We were friends. I hope we still are friends. I don't blame him for being mad at me, but I was trying to help. I wasn't trying to wreck him."
DAVID STARR (No. 11 Pit Corporate Training/Pit-Now.com Toyota Tundra)
Red Horse Racing Finished: 17th
How was your race tonight?
"We are just disappointed. We had a lot better truck than where we finished. For some reason, when we ran on the bottom, the truck wouldn't run up off the bottom. It seemed like we'd get jammed up top and every time I'd try to go to the bottom they'd just freight train me on the outside. Never really could get to the outside when I needed to. We got the truck where we needed it right there about halfway to go but we had already lost a lap and just never could really recover. This is disappointing because our Red Horse Toyota Tundra was a lot better than what we finished so I'm disappointed with that, but we'll keep working hard and see if we can't get our season turned around next week. It is just very disappointing for our team."
KEN SCHRADER, No. 52 Federated Auto Parts Toyota Tundra
Finished: 13th
TED MUSGRAVE, No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota Tundra, HT Motorsports
Finished: 22nd
MARC MITCHELL, No. 15 Hyprene Ergon Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports
Finished: 24th
JUSTIN MARKS, No. 9 crocs Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing
Finished: 32nd
SCOTT SPEED, No. 22 Red Bull Toyota Tundra, Bill Davis Racing
Finished: 33rd
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