Crafton Ends 27 Race Winless Streak with Eldora Victory

(ROSSBURG, OH – JULY 20, 2017 – RIS) Matt Crafton decided to buy a dirt Modified to practice for the Eldora Dirt Derby 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. Why a dirt car? Because the Eldora race is the sole dirt track race in any of the NASCAR top three national race series. The investment paid off as Crafton used the additional dirt track experience to lead 52 of the 150 laps and snap a losing streak that lasted over a year.

Stewart Friesen used his dirt experience to snag the pole for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora, followed by Matt Crafton and Kaz Grala. The first caution came out early for a spin by Bobby Pierce that involved JJ Yeley and Justin Shipley. The sticky, damp track resulted in mud-clogged grills and windshields within the first ten laps. Caleb Holman's truck truck slowed at the restart and he pulled into the pits as the mob raced three wide around the historic dirt track.

Lap 18 had a multi-truck "big one" in the second turn that started when Ben Rhodes got clipped by Sheldon Creed, with about a half dozen more trucks involved, including Norm Benning, Bobby Pierce, Harrison Burton, Austin Cindric, Ryan Truex, Rico Abreu and Johnny Sauter. Holman's truck would not shift out of first gear, sending him to the pits and

Just after the restart, Christopher Bell spun and Kaz Grala, winner at Daytona, had no way to avoid hitting Bell, taking Grala's truck out of the race and leaving Bell with a badly deranged right front suspension.

Not long into the next green flag run, Max Johnston spun, leaving Ben Rhodes with no escape and spinning Korbin Forrister who managed to restart and continue. Christopher Bell's crew adjusted on his front suspension, making the alignment changes needed to return the truck to competitive handling

On the Lap 52 restart, John Hunter Nemechek led but Friesen quickly took the lead, followed by Austin Cindric with a challenge by Matt Crafton for third. Crafton took on new tires during his stop in the stage break.

After the second stage caution, Christopher Bell, in spite of the damage earlier, held the lead over Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric but Stewart Friesen, after a pit stop to replace a flat right front tire,  charged through the field and started gaining positions, getting into second place and steadily gaining on Bell at the rate of about a tenth of a second per lap. Rico Abreu had to pit to replace a flat right rear tire after contacting the outside wall.

Friesen got within striking distance of Bell and the two staged a show of different lines, with Bell running wide on the apron and Friesen trying to sweep low until lap 113, when he got around for the lead. On lap 117, Ty Dillon slowed with a flat right front tire and the caution flew again.

At the restart, Christopher Bell reported that he thought the truck had a flat right front tire and took off slowly but a yellow flew almost immediately for Ray Ciccarelli's spin. The caution allowed Bell's crew a chance to replace the right side tires.

Friesen jumped into the lead ahead of Nemechek on the green, with Crafton getting around both of them and into the lead with Nemechek third before a spin, again by Ciccarelli, brought out another yellow with 14 laps to go.

With ten laps to go, the green came back out over Crafton, Friesen, Briscoe and Nemechek with Crafton running high and opening a lead of almost a half second over Briscoe in just a couple of laps.

"My first dirt win!" laughed Crafton in Victory Lane. "Just learning what the track does" he said was one of the keys to the win, something learned in his Modified.

Unofficial Race Results for the 5Th Annual Eldora Dirt Derby 150 - Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, OH

Fin, Str, Driver, Truck, Laps, St1, St2, Pts, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Status
1) 2, Matt Crafton, No. 88 IdealDoor/Menards Toyota, 150, 1, 9, 2, 24, 6, 52, Running
2) 1, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar International Chevrolet, 150, 2, 1, 4, 93, 1, 54, Running
3) 12, Chase Briscoe, No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford, 150, 4, , , , , 41, Running
4) 11, Grant Enfinger #, No. 98 Champion Power Equipment/Curb Records Toyota, 150, 9, 6, , , , 40, Running
5) 6, John H. Nemechek, No. 8 Fire Alarm Services Inc. Chevrolet, 150, 3, 3, 1, 11, , 48, Running
6) 26, Bobby Pierce, No. 63 GottaRace/866GetAProMetalRoofing Chevrolet, 150, , , , , , 31, Running
7) 10, Noah Gragson #, No. 18 Switch Toyota, 150, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 13, Justin Haley #, No. 24 Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet, 150, 8, 10, , , , 33, Running
9) 4, Christopher Bell, No. 4 Toyota Toyota, 150, , 4, 1, 22, , 35, Running
10) 17, Austin Cindric #, No. 19 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford, 150, 6, 5, , , , 38, Running
11) 27, Cody Coughlin #, No. 13 Ride TV/JEGS Toyota, 150, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 5, Ty Dillon(i), No. 99 K&L Ready Mix Chevrolet, 150, 5, 2, , , , 0, Running
13) 29, Norm Benning, No. 6  Chevrolet, 150, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 16, Jeffrey Abbey, No. 45 Black Rifle Coffee Company Chevrolet, 150, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 23, Harrison Burton, No. 51 Hunt Brothers Pizza Toyota, 150, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 28, Wendell Chavous #, No. 49 JAS Expedided Trucking, LLC Chevrolet, 149, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 24, Ken Schrader, No. 66 K&LReadyMix/MidwestLogisticsSys Chev, 149, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 31, Mike Harmon(i), No. 50  Chevrolet, 147, , , , , , 0, Running
19) 20, Chris Windom, No. 36 BaldwinBros/FoxPaving/CentralAbrasive Chev, 146, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 8, Ryan Truex, No. 16 TACTI/JMS Toyota, 146, 7, , , , , 21, Running
21) 18, JJ Yeley(i), No. 83 Fr8Auction.com Chevrolet, 146, , , , , , 0, Running
22) 32, Ray Ciccarelli, No. 10 Stealth Belt Chevrolet, 146, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 14, Johnny Sauter, No. 21 Allegiant Airlines Chevrolet, 143, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 25, Brandon Hightower(i), No. 1  Chevrolet, 138, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 21, Justin Shipley, No. 80 Roger's Ford, 121, 10, 7, , , , 17, Engine
26) 15, Rico Abreu, No. 89 Curb Records Toyota, 117, , 8, , , , 14, Accident
27) 19, Sheldon Creed(i), No. 20 United Rentals Chevrolet, 80, , , , , , 0, Overheating
28) 30, Korbin Forrister, No. 0  Chevrolet, 44, , , , , , 9, Accident
29) 22, Max Johnston, No. 02 BRANDT Chevrolet, 41, , , , , , 8, Accident
30) 7, Ben Rhodes, No. 27 Safelite Auto Glass Toyota, 40, , , , , , 7, Accident
31) 3, Kaz Grala #, No. 33 15-40 Connection Chevrolet, 34, , , , , , 6, Accident
32) 9, Caleb Holman, No. 75 FoodCountryUSA/LopezWealthMgt Chev, 12, , , , , , 5, Transmission
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 45 Mins, 44 Secs.
Average Speed: 42.560 MPH
Margin of Victory: 1.960 Seconds
Race Comments: Matt Crafton won the Eldora Dirt Derby, his 14th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following trucks dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: No. 50 (unapproved adjustments). 
Failed to Qualify: (1) 57.
 Caution Flags: 10 for 59 laps: Laps: 6-11 (No. 63, 36, 83 Incident Turn 3 [None]); 20-32 (20, 6, 63, 51, 21, 27, 89, 16, 19 Incident Turn 3 / Competition [None]); 37-40 (No. 4, 33 Incident Turn 2 [63]); 44-53 (No. 27, 0, 02 Incident Turn 4 [None]); 69-74 (No. 20 Incident Turn 3 [1]); 86-89 (No. 10, 20 Incident Turn 4 [63]); 91-92 (Stage 2 Conclusion [1]); 120-125 (No. 99 Incident Turn 2 [13]); 128-131 (No. 10 Stalled Turn 4 [None]); 137-140 (No. 10 Incident Turn 2 [99]).
 Lead Changes: 7 among 4 drivers: S. Friesen 1-33; M. Crafton 34-40; S. Friesen 41; J. Nemechek 42-52; S. Friesen 53-91; C. Bell 92-113; S. Friesen 114-133; M. Crafton 134-150.
Duralast GT Brakes ?Brake in the Race Award? - Stage 1: Matt Crafton, No. 88 Stage 1
Duralast GT Brakes ?Brake in the Race Award? - Stage 2: Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Stage 2
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race: Triad Racing Technologies (TRT), No. 88
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Matt Crafton, No. 88
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Grant Enfinger, No. 98

John Davison

Long-time RIS staffer, beginning in the mid-80s. Charlotte, NC area local contact.

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Volume 2017, Issue 7, Posted 12:57 AM, 07.20.2017