Matt Crafton Runs Away to Victory in Atlanta Truck Race

Photo Credit: Jeff Zelevansky / Getty Images

HAMPTON, GA – RIS – Two-time Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton raced from his 15th place starting position to scorch the field in the Hyundai Construction Equipment 200 NCWTS race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. 

At the end of a 74-lap green flag run—the longest in NCWTS history at Atlanta—Crafton crossed the finish line 8.752 seconds ahead of runner-up Ty Dillon. Keystone Light pole winner Ben Kennedy came home third, a distant 10.275 seconds behind the race winner.
 
Daniel Suarez finished fourth, followed by Tyler Reddick, last week's winner at Daytona.
 
The victory was the sixth of Crafton's career and his first at Atlanta, though four of his six wins have come at intermediate speedways—Charlotte, Kansas, Texas and Atlanta.
 
Despite a lackluster qualifying effort, it didn't take Crafton long to realize he had the best truck in the race with his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota.
 
"I was really, really disappointed in qualifying, but (my truck) didn't have a lot of single-lap speed by itself," Crafton said. "But I knew, once they dropped the green and this thing took off and it ran three laps, I'm like, 'We've got something for these boys—they're in trouble.'"
 
Crafton won the race in his 14th start at the 1.54-mile speedway.
 
"This is my favorite race track, by far," Crafton said. "You can search, and you can move around so much. Now that I've got this win, it's an amazing feeling."
 
A key to Crafton's victory was the ability to adapt to changing tracks condition, as the race moved from daylight to dark.
 
"We just tried to stay ahead of it," Crafton said. "We knew when the sun started going down that the track was going to change quite a bit. I have had that racing experience before and gotten really, really free at night.
 
"We just kept tinkering away at it, tinkering away at it… we made all the right adjustments."
 
Indeed. All told, Crafton led 85 laps, including the final 72 after surging past Suarez to take the top spot for good on Lap 59.
 
Brad Keselowski originally was awarded the pole, but a review of timing and scoring confirmed that his No. 29 Ford had not reached the start/finish line in time to begin a qualifying lap in the final round of knockout time trials.
 
In fact, Kennedy was the only driver to post a bona fide lap in the third round, and he was awarded the pole after Keselowski's time was disallowed. Keselowski started 10th and finished 15th in his own truck.
 
Crafton's margin of victory is the 10th largest in NCWTS history.

Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 15 88 Matt Crafton Fisher Nuts/Menards Toyota 130 48 5 148.0 $45,285 Running 2 85
2 14 33 Ty Dillon(i) Rheem Chevrolet 130 0 109.9 $26,957 Running
3 1 11 Ben Kennedy Local Motors Toyota 130 42 1 110.7 $27,620 Running 1 1
4 4 51 Daniel Suarez(i) ARRIS Toyota 130 0 114.3 $21,261 Running 1 1
5 11 19 Tyler Reddick DrawTite Ford 130 39 98.3 $18,707 Running
6 13 98 Johnny Sauter Nextant/Curb Records Toyota 130 38 93.8 $16,667 Running
7 2 4 Erik Jones # Toyota Toyota 130 38 1 119.3 $17,112 Running 2 37
8 8 31 James Buescher NTS Motorsports Chevrolet 129 36 87.5 $13,612 Running
9 16 17 Timothy Peters Red Horse Racing Toyota 129 35 86.3 $15,807 Running
10 7 8 Joe Nemechek swmtx.com/D.A.B. Constructors Inc. Chevrolet 129 34 80.7 $16,701 Running
11 18 39 Ryan Sieg(i) Pull-A-Part/Big Green Egg Chevrolet 129 0 69.4 $13,446 Running
12 5 05 John Wes Townley Zaxby's Chevrolet 129 32 75.9 $15,557 Running
13 9 23 Spencer Gallagher # Allegiant Travel Chevrolet 129 31 66.1 $15,501 Running
14 3 13 Cameron Hayley # Cabinets by Hayley/Carolina Nut Co. Toyota 129 30 70.5 $15,445 Running
15 10 29 Brad Keselowski(i) Cooper Standard Ford 129 0 96.5 $13,657 Running 1 6
16 6 54 Justin Boston # Discovering Lucy Angel Toyota 129 28 59.4 $15,168 Running
17 20 75 Caleb Holman FdCntryUSA/MrnngFrshFrms/LpzWlthMgmt. Chev 127 27 66.3 $12,807 Running
18 29 63 Garrett Smithley HeroBox.org/SegPay Chevrolet 126 26 46.4 $14,919 Running
19 12 14 Daniel Hemric # California Clean Power Chevrolet 126 25 72.6 $14,807 Running
20 26 08 Korbin Forrister # Tilted Kilt Chevrolet 125 24 38.2 $15,252 Running
21 19 99 Bryan Silas Kapoya Premium Energy Drink Chevrolet 123 23 48.0 $14,586 Running
22 21 02 Tyler Young Randco Industries/Young's Building Systems Chevrolet 123 22 44.9 $14,475 Running
23 28 74 Jordan Anderson Tri-Analytics/Overnight Chevrolet 123 21 34.1 $12,085 Running
24 24 94 Wendell Chavous # VYDOX Plus Chevrolet 120 20 47.9 $12,002 Running
25 22 07 Ray Black Jr. # ScubaLife.com Chevrolet 119 19 52.8 $14,375 Running
26 27 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet 118 18 29.4 $12,947 Running
27 30 1 Morgan Shepherd(i) Life on the Line/Lilly Trucking Chevrolet 118 0 28.0 $11,891 Running
28 17 15 Mason Mingus Georgia 811 Chevrolet 110 16 40.0 $11,631 Accident
29 25 86 Brandon Brown Brandonbilt Foundations Chevrolet 91 15 42.5 $11,603 Oil Line
30 23 50 Cody Ware # Burnie Grill/Bubba Burger Chevrolet 48 14 36.3 $12,103 Accident
31 31 6 Norm Benning Chevrolet 12 13 28.6 $9,603 Rear Gear