Crafton takes Truck Series points lead to New Hampshire

Sep 19, 2014 - 9:07 PM Loudon, NH (SportsNetwork.com) - After a two-year hiatus, the Camping World Truck Series has returned to New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The series will run 175 laps around this flat 1.058-mile track on Saturday. Three practice sessions were held here on Friday. Cole Custer had the fastest lap overall at 133.226 mph. Matt Crafton, the defending series champion and current points leader, was fifth quickest on the charts at 132.347 mph.

Last Saturday, Crafton's second-place finish coupled with a 14th-place run for Johnny Sauter at Chicagoland allowed Crafton to take a five-point lead over his ThorSport Racing teammate. Sauter held a seven-point advantage prior to Chicagoland.

With seven races to go, Crafton is trying to become the first driver in the 20-year history of the Truck Series to win back-to-back championships.

This will be the 17th time the series competes at New Hampshire. Crafton has 11 previous starts, which is more than any other driver entered in this race.

"It's been two years since the trucks have raced (at New Hampshire), but I've had some good runs there in the past," Crafton said. "We got our first pole there in 2005. To me, the biggest challenge at Loudon is the track itself. It's tough to run side-by-side because there is really only one preferred groove. The challenge is to stay patient and not get caught-up in a wreck trying to make something happen."

Crafton's best finish at New Hampshire is fourth, which occurred twice, most recently in 2010. Sauter has placed no worse than seventh in his first three truck races here (2009-11).

"New Hampshire is an awesome place to race," Sauter said. It's short-track racing at its best, and I'm a short-track racing kind of guy...I've always run well there in the trucks, even Nationwide and Cup.

Ryan Blaney is presently 16 points behind Crafton, while Darrell Wallace Jr. trails by 35 points.

Kyle Busch won the three previous truck races at New Hampshire, but Busch, a Sprint Cup Series regular and member of the championship Chase, is not competing in this year's event here.

Erik Jones will drive Busch's No. 51 Toyota at this track. Jones, who is running a partial schedule for Kyle Busch Motorsports this season, won at Iowa, a 0.875-mile track, in July.

Busch scored his sixth victory of the season at Chicagoland.

Thirty teams are on the entry list for the UNOH 175.

Series: NASCAR Camping World. Date: Saturday, Sept. 20. Race: UNOH 175. Site: New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Track: 1.058-mile oval. Start time: 1 p.m. ET. Laps: 175. Miles: 185.15. Television: FOX Sports 1. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.