Winning the Camping World Truck Series’ race at Dover International Speedway launched Matt Crafton five spots to the top of the point standings.
Crafton leads Timothy Peters by two points after five races this season.
Filling out the top five is Daniel Hemric, Ryan Truex and Spencer Gallagher.
With a Daniel Suarez behind him and hungry for his first-career win, Matt Crafton stayed perfect in the final 78 laps of the JACOB Companies 200 to win his first Camping World Truck Series race of 2016.
Crafton, a two-time series champion, hadn’t won at Dover International Speedway in his first 15 starts at the 1-mile track. Now Crafton is eligible for the Truck series’ Chase playoff.
“I always wanted Miles (Dover’s trophy),” Crafton told Fox Sports 1. “We’ve came close and ran second (in 2013). This Menards Toyota Tundra was fast today. It’s all about these guys behind me, I can’t say enough about them – they never give up because we were not very good in the last practice.”
Crafton started fifth after Friday’s qualifying session was rained out.
“Last night (crew chief) Junior (Joiner) sat down and they worked on it all day and made a little headway and finally made progress,” said Crafton, who took the lead on Lap 123. His closest challenger was Suarez, who wasn’t able to get close enough to Crafton’s rear-bumper during the last 27 lap green-flag run.
“I was trying to run the wheels off this thing to try and complete the pass,” Suarez told Fox Sports 1. “We were a little faster than (Crafton) but clean air is a big difference here.”
Suarez’ runner-up result was his best finish in four Truck starts this season. He had failed to finish in the top 15 in his first three races.
HOW MATT CRAFTON WON: After taking the lead on Lap 123, Crafton held off all challengers through two restarts to lead the final 78 laps.
WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Daniel Suarez was in the top five all afternoon, but couldn’t catch Crafton in the final stretch, finishing second for the fourth time in his Truck career … A week after crashing on the last lap at Kansas, Johnny Sauter kept his truck out of trouble, finishing fourth for his second top five of the year … Cole Custer bounced back from a penalty for jumping a restart to finish fifth, his best finish of the year.
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Pole-sitter William Byron led the first 80 laps, but lost the lead during pit stops. The rookie pit under caution with 30 to go and was penalized for his crew going over the wall too soon before finishing 11th … ThorSport teammates Ben Rhodes and Rico Abreu were in the top 10 on a Lap 61 restart when Rhodes got loose in Turn 3 and made contact with Abreu, sending them both into the wall. It was the second accident in as many races for both drivers… With 69 laps left and right after making a green-flag stop, John Wes Townley got loose in Turn 3, overcorrected and hit the outside wall in Turn 4. Townley finished 29th.
NOTABLE: All five races this season have been won by a different driver, four of them by series regulars.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’ve been telling Junior (Joiner) all year, to get out of the box and he said we have to win a race first. Now we can get out of the box.” – Matt Crafton after his first win of 2016.
NEXT: N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway; May 20 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
For the first time since February all three of NASCAR’s national series will be in the same place as they converge at Dover International Speedway.
The Camping World Truck Series begins the weekend with the JACOB Companies 200. The Xfinity Series follows with the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200 and the Sprint Cup Series caps the weekend with the AAA 400 Drive for Autism.
Here’s the weekend schedule complete with TV and radio information.
All Times are Eastern.
Thursday, May 12
11 a.m. – 7 p.m. – Truck series garage open
2 – 2:55 p.m. – Truck practice (No TV)
4 – 4:55 p.m. – Final Truck practice (No TV)
Friday, May 13
6:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. – Sprint Cup garage open
7 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – Xfinity Sereis garage open
8 a.m. – Truck series garage opens
10 – 10:55 a.m. – Xfinity Series practice (Fox Sports 1)
11 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. – Sprint Cup practice (FS1, Motor Racing Network)
12:30 – 1:55 p.m. – Final Xfinity Series practice (FS1)
2:15 p.m. – Truck series qualifying; multi-car/three rounds (FS1)
3:30 p.m. – Truck series driver-crew chief meeting
3:45 p.m. – Sprint Cup qualifying; multi-car/three rounds (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
5 p.m. – Truck series driver introductions
5;30 p.m. – Truck series JACOB Companies 200; 200 laps/200 miles (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday, May 14
7:30 a.m. – Xfinity Series garage opens
7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Sprint Cup garage open
9:30 – 10:25 a.m. – Sprint Cup practice (FS1, MRN)
10:45 a.m. – Xfinity Series qualifying; multi-car/three rounds (FS1)
12:15 p.m. – Xfinity Series driver-crew chief meeting
12:30 – 1:25 p.m. – Sprint Cup final practice (FS2, MRN)
1:35 p.m. – Xfinity Xfinity Series driver introductions
2 p.m. – Xfinity Series Heat No. 1; 40 laps/40 miles (Fox, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
2:50 p.m. Approx. – Xfinity Series Heat No. 2; 40 laps/40 miles (Fox, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
3:30 p.m. Approx. – Xfinity Series Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200 Main; 120 laps/120 miles (Fox, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday, May 15
7 a.m. – Sprint Cup garage opens
11 a.m. – Driver-crew chief meeting
12:20 p.m. – Driver introductions
1 p.m. – AAA 400 Drive for Autism; 400 laps, 400 miles (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Haas Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean believes the best chance of making his NASCAR debut will come at Sonoma in late June.
Grosjean expressed an interest in trying out NASCAR after joining Stewart-Haas co-owner Gene Haas’ new Formula 1 operation for its debut season in 2016.
The Frenchman confirmed to NBC Sports in February that he had discussed the possibility with Haas and restated his desire when speaking ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. Grosjean admits he still needs permission.
“So far I haven’t spoken with my wife!” Grosjean said.
“Definitely I want to do it. I think it’s something we’ve discussed since day one. It would be great experience. When it’s going to happen, I don’t know. It’s 21 races, it’s quite a tight schedule already in Formula 1. Of course, you don’t want to start on an oval, I wouldn’t feel very comfortable.”
Grosjean’s best opportunities for a road course appearance come with the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma on June 26 and the Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen on August 7. However, the race at The Glen would cut into F1’s three-week summer break.
“That’s a problem,” Grosjean said. “Sonoma is better, I think.”
Sonoma may be better for Grosjean, but it would create a brutal five-weekend run of racing that involves a great deal of travel.
After the Canadian Grand Prix on June 12, Grosjean will venture to Azerbaijan for the nation’s first F1 race on June 19 before potentially heading to California to make his NASCAR debut.
Following Sonoma, Grosjean would then need to go straight to Austria for the next F1 race on July 3, which is then followed by the British Grand Prix one week later.
A key note is that Stewart-Haas Racing would not be allowed to field an additional car for Grosjean at either event. He would have to drive for another team. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Rule Book permit teams to field four cars only “unless otherwise authorized by NASCAR.” Richard Buck, managing director of the Sprint Cup Series, told ESPN.com’s Bob Pockrass that no team could field a fifth entry for a rookie. A potential opportunity could come with HScott Motorsports, which is aligned with Stewart-Haas Racing and fields two cars for Michael Annett and Clint Bowyer.
Grosjean ruled out racing on ovals in NASCAR and IndyCar, including the Indianapolis 500.
“I love watching the race, but I’ve never been attracted by it, so Le Mans 24 Hours yes, Rally Monte Carlo yes, but ovals… I’d probably miss turning right,” Grosjean said.
Having previously raced in GTs, Grosjean is no stranger to closed cockpit racing. Although he conceded there would be much to learn in NASCAR, it is a challenge he relishes.
“It’s probably a bit heavier and more powerful,” Grosjean said of Cup cars. “The brakes don’t look to be the best brakes in the world. There’s a lot of contact as well. A few things to learn, but why not? It would be fun.”
In the absence of suspended crew chief Adam Stevens, Joe Gibbs Racing will use a committee approach for Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota this weekend at Dover International Speedway.
Former Sprint Cup crew chief Todd Berrier, who is JGR’s director of inspections, will call race strategy for Busch during Sunday’s race at Dover.
The team’s engineers will run Busch’s team during practices and qualifying Friday and Saturday.
Furniture Row Racing employed a similar setup for Martin Truex Jr.’s car at Phoenix International Raceway two months ago with Berrier handling race-day strategy in the absence of suspended crew chief Cole Pearn.
Stevens and front tire changer Josh Leslie were suspended for one race Wednesday after a violation of NASCAR’s revised lug nut rule was discovered in postrace inspection of Busch’s winning car from last Saturday at Kansas Speedway.
JGR hasn’t confirmed who will replace Leslie at Dover.
If you haven’t cast your ballot in the Sprint Fan Vote for next week’s Sprint All-Star Race, time is running out.
Fans have until 5 p.m. ET on May 20 to make their choice on either the NASCAR Mobile App or at www.nascar.com/SprintFanVote.
Results will be announced shortly after that in victory lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
In addition, votes shared on Facebook or Twitter get double the value.
Sprint officials announced the top five vote-getters to date – out of a field of 30 drivers – but have not revealed who’s leading.
Rather, the top five have been revealed solely in alphabetical order, not by the numbers of votes that they’ve received thus far.
The top five vote-getters thus far: Ryan Blaney, Matt DiBenedetto, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Danica Patrick.
Patrick won the Sprint Fan Vote in both 2013 and 2015, becoming the first two-time winner in the event’s history. She would make further history if she wins the Vote again this year.
Blaney and Elliott are currently leading in Sunoco Rookie of the Year competition.
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