Click here to follow us on Twitter @circletrackplus   Click here to like us on Facebook 
 

Matt Crafton finally can take home Miles the Monster.

After leading 76 of the 200 laps in Friday afternoon's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Dover International Speedway, Crafton will walk away with the trophy branded after the mascot of the "Monster Mile".

"It's awesome," Crafton told reporters in Victory Lane following the victory. "I've always wanted (trophy) Miles. We've came close, we've come in second, we've had some very fast trucks. This Menard's Toyota Tundra was very, very good today."

<p>Crafton knows the win would not have been possible without the changes his crew made to his No. 88 Menard's Toyota both the night prior and during Friday's race.

"These guys just never give up because we were not very good in the last practice," Crafton said. "I think we were 21st and we went wholesale last night. Me and (crew chief) Junior (Joiner) sat down and talked a while and we talked again. I just showed up later and let him do his work. We were, like I said, working on it all day. A little bit of air pressure here, a little bit of air pressure there, and finally this thing was right on. This thing had great, great horsepower all day."

Crafton, who won back-to-back championships in 2013 and 2014, was able to punch his ticket to the Truck Series' newly formed Chase for the Championship by driving away from Kyle Busch Motorsports' No. 51 entry which was driven by Xfinity series regular Daniel Suarez.

Suarez was the first to admit he was giving it all he had to try and walk away with his first victory in the series.

"Honestly, I was trying to drive the wheels off of it to try to complete the pass," Suarez said. "I felt like we were a little bit faster than the 88 (of Crafton). But you know, clean air is a big difference here. I was trying to find a different line and just trying to find a little more speed to complete the pass. But he was pretty good. It seemed like I found something in (Turns) 1 and 2, but it wasn't working as good for me in (Turns) 3 and 4. I don't know."

Suarez's KBM teammate and last week's winner at Kansas, William Byron, was dealt a bad hand of cards in the race's late stages. Byron led the race's first 80 laps after starting on the pole due to qualifying being cancelled. The driver of the No. 9 Liberty University Toyota fell back to sixth place where he was then cited with a penalty on pit-road for one of this crew members going over the wall too soon.

The third KBM truck driven by Christopher Bell finished in third place. Johnny Sauter took home fourth place with Cole Custer, Spencer Gallagher, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Truex, Daniel Hemric and Kaz Grala rounding out the top-ten finishers.

Crafton's crew chief Junior Joiner believes this win could have great importance but doesn't foresee the team moving too far away from the strategies which have brought them this far.

"We definitely want to get out of the box, per say, but at the same time we enjoy winning races  -- that's what it's all about," Joiner said. "When you have something you know can go out any given week and contend for the win, it's really hard to steer too far away from that."

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race Number 5
Unofficial Race Results for the 17Th Annual Dover 200 - Friday, May 13, 2016
Dover International Speedway - Dover, DE - 1 Mile Concrete
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 200 Miles

Leader
Fin    Str    Trk    Driver    Team    Laps    Pts    Bns    Driver Rating    Status    Tms    Laps
1    5    88    Matt Crafton    Chi-Chi's/Menards Toyota    200    36    4    142.2    Running    1    76
2    6    51    Daniel Suarez(i)    ARRIS Toyota    200    0        120.8    Running        
3    9    4    Christopher Bell #    Toyota Toyota    200    30        106.3    Running        
4    15    21    Johnny Sauter    Allegiant Travel Chevrolet    200    29        91.1    Running        
5    7    00    Cole Custer #    Haas Automation Chevrolet    200    28        100.3    Running        
6    21    23    Spencer Gallagher    Allegiant Travel Chevrolet    200    27        81.5    Running        
7    16    29    Tyler Reddick    Cooper Standard Ford    200    27    1    102.1    Running    1    39
8    18    81    Ryan Truex    SeaWatch Toyota    200    25        81.7    Running        
9    8    19    Daniel Hemric    Oakmont Management Group Ford    200    24        84.9    Running        
10    22    33    Kaz Grala    Allegiant Travel Chevrolet    200    23        68.8    Running        
11    1    9    William Byron #    Liberty University Toyota    200    24    2    115.1    Running    1    80
12    3    11    Matt Tifft #    Autism Delaware Toyota    200    21        88.7    Running        
13    11    24    Ben Kennedy    Jacob Companies Chevrolet    200    20        62.0    Running        
14    17    17    Timothy Peters    Red Horse Racing Toyota    200    19        66.9    Running        
15    19    8    John H Nemechek    Cricket SX3 Chevrolet    200    18        71.5    Running        
16    14    49    Nick Drake    Haas Automation Chevrolet    200    17        67.7    Running        
17    26    1    Austin Hill    A&D Welding Ford    198    16        49.9    Running        
18    24    66    Jordan Anderson    Columbia SC - Famously Hot Chevrolet    198    15        46.0    Running        
19    4    13    Cameron Hayley    Cabinets by Hayley Toyota    197    14        91.5    Running        
20    2    71    Brandon Jones(i)    AAA Car Care Center Chevrolet    196    0        79.7    Running        
21    27    02    Tyler Young    Randco/Young's Building Systems Chevrolet    196    12        38.7    Running        
22    13    98    Rico Abreu #    Safelite/Curb Records Toyota    196    11        59.9    Running        
23    30    50    Travis Kvapil    Gas Buddy Chevrolet    195    10        38.0    Running        
24    29    44    Tommy Joe Martins    Diamond Gusset Jeans/M.Tech Control Chevrolet    194    9        34.0    Running        
25    31    07    CJ Faison    Chevrolet    190    8        31.3    Running        
26    28    63    Bobby Pierce    Chevrolet    176    7        42.0    Accident        
27    12    92    Parker Kligerman    BTS Tire/Solid Rock Carriers/Advance Auto Parts Ford    136    6        45.5    Rear Gear        
28    10    41    Ben Rhodes #    Carolina Nut Co. Toyota    131    5        57.2    Running        
29    20    05    John Wes Townley    Zaxby?s Chevrolet    128    5    1    49.8    Accident    1    3
30    32    10    Jennifer Jo Cobb    Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet    65    3        24.7    Brakes        
31    23    86    Brandon Brown    Coastal Carolina University Chevrolet    56    2        37.0    Suspension        
32    25    22    Austin Wayne Self    AM Technical Solutions Toyota    41    1        32.0    Engine        
 Race Comments:    Matt Crafton won the JACOB Companies 200, his 12th career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following truck dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: No. 24 (backup truck).
 Failed to Qualify:    (2) 2, 6.
 Time of Race:    01 Hrs, 47 Mins, 45 Secs.    Average Speed:    111.369 MPH    Margin of Victory:    0.571 Seconds
 Caution Flags:    6 for 29 laps: Laps: 44-48 (No. 22 Spin in Turn 2 [63]); 57-60 (No. 86 Spin in Turn 4 [92]); 62-66 (No. 41 and 98 Accident in Turn 4 [1]); 81-84 (No. 07 Spin in Turn 4 [66]); 133-138 (No. 05 Accident in Turn 4 [24]); 169-173 ( [1]).
 Lead Changes:    3 among 4 drivers: W. Byron # 1-80; J. Townley 81-83; T. Reddick 84-122; M. Crafton 123-200.
Top 10 Driver Points:     (1) M. Crafton 124;(2) T. Peters 122;(3) D. Hemric 119;(4) R. Truex 118;(5) S. Gallagher 112;(6) W. Byron # 111;(7) J. Nemechek 106;(8) T. Young 101;(9) C. Bell # 99;(10) T. Reddick 96.
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race    : Triad Racing Technologies (TRT), #88     Mobil 1 Driver of the Race    : Matt Crafton, #88 
Sunoco Rookie of the Race    : Christopher Bell, #4 
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race:    May. 20, 2016 - Charlotte Motor Speedway