Camping World Trucks - Crafton NHMS Preview

FAST FACTS: Matt Crafton heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway with some solid stats at the 1.058-mile track. In 10 starts at the track, Crafton has two top-five and five top-10 finishes. He has an average start of 13.0, an average finish of 12.0 and he has led 30 laps around the oval.

A FAST FIRST: Crafton scored the first pole award of his career at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the fall of 2005 after laying down a lap speed of 128.819 m.p.h. This was the first of five poles Crafton has earned in his 11 full seasons in the series, the most recent of which came last month at Michigan International Speedway.

TIME TO GO SHOPPING: Can't get to the new ThorSport Racing shop in Sandusky to pick up your Matt Crafton merchandise? The ThorSport Racing online store is now open for business. Head over to http://store.thorsport.com or click the Merchandise tab on ThorSport.com to find gear for all of the ThorSport Racing drivers.

CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 88 team will utilize chassis No. 34 this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Crafton most recently drove this chassis to a sixth-place finishafter starting eighth at Lucas Oil Raceway in July. Crafton also utilized No. 34 at Phoenix International Raceway and Martinsville Speedway at the beginning of the season, scoring seventh and 11th-place finishes, respectively.

PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: A solid one-day show for the No. 88 Menards/Fisher Nuts team at Chicagoland Speedway earned Crafton a seventh-place finish in the Fast Five 225, his 10th top 10 finish of the season. The consistent top-10 night for Crafton closed the gap in the championship hunt to less than 50 points and earned him one spot in the championship standings, putting him only two points outside the top five in points.

THOUGHTS FROM THE DRIVER: Matt Crafton

What are your thoughts on New Hampshire Motor Speedway?

"I really enjoy going to New Hampshire. I won my first pole ever there, and I've had a lot of good finishes in the past, so when you have those kinds of experiences, you're always looking forward to going back."

What is this track's biggest challenge?

"To me, the biggest challenge at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is the track itself. It's tough to really run side-by-side. They made it a lot better when they reconfigured it, but there is really only one preferred groove. It's tough because you can have a better truck than the guy in front of you but you might have to sit and ride behind him for a while until he makes a mistake. The challenge is to stay patient and not do anything to get you caught up in a wreck trying to make something happen."