Matt Crafton – 2017 Canada Preview

Aug 30, 2017

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Sounding Off – Matt Crafton:

You have four top-10 finishes in four starts at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Is it safe to say you enjoy road course racing?
“Oh, I love to road race. It’s a blast, and I have a lot of fun doing it. I think we need one more on the schedule, to be totally honest. There are a lot of us (teams) that actually have a specialty road course truck, and we just run it one time a year. It just goes and sits in the basement after that. There’s a ton of really cool road courses that we could go run, and we don’t, it’s a shame.”

Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

What makes Canadian Tire Motorsport Park challenging? A lot of high speed corners, a lot of elevation changes, what’s the most difficult part for you?
“The elevation changes without a doubt. There’s a ton. I mean huge elevation changes, and at the other side of the elevation change, it’s a corner. So there’s a couple spots where the elevation’s like, ‘wow.’ I mean, it grab’s your attention each and every lap there, and there’s not much room for error, that’s for sure.”

Team Stats:
2017 Driver Point Standings: 3rd
2017 Owner Point Standings: 3rd
2017 Stage Wins: 2
2017 Stage Points: 153
2017 Playoff Points: 7

News & Notes:

Chassis Chatter… The No. 88 ThorSport Racing (TSR) team will unload chassis No. 59 for Sunday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP). This is a brand new chassis and will make its debut north of the border on Sunday.
Canada eh…The Menards driver will make his fifth career NCWTS start on at CTMP on Sunday. Crafton is one of five drivers to compete in every race at the 2.459-mile road course, and among active series drivers has the most top-five finishes (2), the most top-10 finishes (4), has completed the most laps (258), and has the most lead lap finishes (4).
Playoff Status… Following Crafton’s first win of the 2017 NCWTS season at Eldora Speedway, the TSR driver has locked himself into the first round of the Playoffs, which kick-off at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. Crafton is currently third in the 2017 driver point standings, and seeded fourth in the Playoffs. The Menards driver was in the inaugural Chase in 2016, finishing third overall.
Take Me Back – Canada, 2016… The ThorSport Racing driver qualified 17th for the 4th Annual event at CTMP, but following qualifying, the No. 88 Menards team changed a transmission, forcing the veteran driver to start in the rear of the 32-truck field. Crafton went on to the lead the NCWTS 250 for four laps, and finished fourth.
Rearview Mirror – Bristol…Starting sixth, Crafton led the field twice, for 90 laps, finishing third in Stage 1, fourth in Stage 2, and second in the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Crafton’s Canada Stats: