Crafton set to make his 300th truck start at Dover

By Crafton, Sports Network

The Sports Network

All of Crafton's starts have come consecutively.

Crafton heads to Dover with 22-point lead over second-place and rookie driver Jeb Burton. In a record 12 starts at Dover, Crafton has posted two top-5 finishes and seven top-10s. His best finish at this one-mile, concrete- surfaced track is third, which came in 2011.

"Ever since I first went (to Dover), it's been the kind of racetrack where you can move around and find a better groove, and as a driver, that's all you can ask for," Crafton said. "That's what I love about Dover, the great side-by- side racing. That's what the fans come there to see, not everyone freight- training around the bottom of the racetrack. I was always leery of concrete, but Dover is an awesome racetrack, and Bristol is the same way. You can move around wherever you need to. So now I think concrete is pretty cool."

Crafton has finished no worse than ninth in the first five truck races this season. He won the April 20th event at Kansas.

Two weeks ago at Charlotte, Crafton finished fourth after bouncing back from a two-lap deficit. He fell one lap down after pitting under green just before a caution came. The ThorSport Racing driver also dropped a lap behind when he was forced to pit for a flat tire.

"I feel like there's nothing that could come up, at any racetrack, that this team couldn't overcome," he said. "If we continue to do what we're doing, at the end of the season, we're going to look back at nights and days like we've had at Charlotte and Martinsville and say that's why we continued to contend for this championship, because these guys never give up."

Thirty-four teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Lucas Oil 200. Kyle Busch is the only Sprint Cup Series competitor scheduled to compete in this race.

Series: NASCAR Camping World. Date: Friday, May 31. Race: Lucas Oil 200. Site: Dover International Speedway. Track: 1-mile oval. Start time: 5 p.m. ET. Laps: 200. Miles: 200. 2012 Winner: Todd Bodine. Television: Speed. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.

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