Matt Crafton

Matthew Justin Crafton (born June 11, 1976) is an American professional

Crafton was born in Tulare, California. Before turning to NASCAR racing in 2000, he raced go-karts, midgets, and mini sprints. Crafton began his go-kart career at the age of seven after receiving a kart as a present for graduating from kindergarten. He won multiple national and regional championships before moving to midgets at the age of 15, winning twenty main events.

He joined the Featherlite Southwest Series as a substitute for his injured father, Danny Crafton, in 1996, filling in as the driver of the No. 46 entry for the final three races of the season. Crafton took over the No. 46 full-time in 1997. His career went national when he became involved in the 1998

Crafton made his Truck Series debut in 2000 at the season finale, held at California Speedway. Driving the PickupTruck.com Chevy for ThorSport Racing, he qualified 17th and finished ninth. In 2001, he piloted the No. 88 for ThorSport full-time with sponsorship from Fast Track Delivery Sealer and XE Sighting System. He had eleven top-tens and finished twelfth in the championship standings, third behind Ricky Hendrick and Travis Kvapil for Rookie of the Year. Menards first joined as an associate sponsor in 2002 and that season he earned six top-tens and finished fifteenth in points. Crafton earned 11 top 10s before finishing 11th in points in 2003.

In 2004, Crafton signed on to drive the No. 6

Crafton's first NASCAR win came at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 16, 2008, in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. It was his 178th start, the record for most starts a driver has had before getting his first win in the Truck Series. The win moved him into the top five in points for 2008. Later that season, Crafton filled in for Robby Gordon in practice and qualified for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Homestead because Gordon was competing in the final off-road race of the season.

In 2009, although he did not win a race that season, Crafton scored two poles (Chicagoland Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway), 11 top-five and 21 top-10 finishes, ultimately finishing second in the point standings behind champion Ron Hornaday. Crafton had another strong season in 2010, earning one pole at Texas Motor Speedway, 10 top-five, and 20 top-10 finishes, resulting in a season-ending rank of fourth.

2011 saw the second win of Crafton's career at Iowa Speedway, in addition to poles at Michigan International Speedway and Martinsville Speedway, where he broke the track qualifying record. However, four DNFs (Did Not Finish) due to engine failures, mechanical issues and accidents caused by other competitors led to only five top fives and 13 top 10s, ultimately relegating Crafton to eighth in the final standings. In 2012, after the team had moved from Chevrolet to Toyota, he had a decent season, finishing 6th in points.

2013 was Crafton's best season in his career to date. He won his third career race at

On March 30, 2014, Crafton scored his fourth career Truck win at Martinsville.^[3] On June 6, he won on fuel strategy at Texas Motor Speedway to win two races in a season for the first time in his career. It was also the first time he led more than 100 laps in a race. Despite crashing out at Dover and Gateway, his first DNFs in over two years, Crafton would ultimately go on to become the first back-to-back champion in the Truck Series.

On February 28, 2015, Crafton scored his sixth career Truck victory in the revived

Although Crafton still won no races throughout 2019, he made his 2nd-ever Championship 4 appearance. He finished 2nd at Homestead to Austin Hill and 2 spots ahead of Ross Chastain to claim his 3rd career Truck Series Championship.

On July 25, 2020, Crafton broke a 67-race winless streak by winning at Kansas Speedway for the 3rd time in his career.^[5] That was his only win of the season. He failed to make the Championship 4. ^[6]

In 2021, Crafton went winless again, but made the Championship 4, benefited by late-race chaos at Martinsville. Crafton finished 4th in points.^[7]

Crafton did not make the playoffs easily in 2022, as he had to hold off Derek Kraus for the final spot, which he succeeded at doing. Crafton was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, landing only 9th place in points with 2 top 5’s for the season.

Crafton once again made the playoffs in 2023 without winning a race, but was eliminated again at Kansas. Following the Talladega fall race, Crafton attacked Nick Sanchez in the garage area as a result of an on-track incident when both of their trucks made contact with each other, triggering a multi-truck pileup.^[8] NASCAR fined Crafton $25,000 and Sanchez $5,000 for the fight.^[9] Greg Van Alst suffered a fractured vertebrae in the same crash.

Cup Series

Because of Crafton's sponsorship with Menards, he has made spot duty with Menards' Cup teams, including taking over for Paul Menard on occasion. Crafton was called in to substitute for Menard's No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet twice in 2014; first at January Daytona testing after a pipe burst in Menard's house,^[10] and Crafton was third fastest with a speed of 194.342 miles per hour (312.763 km/h).^[11] In March, with Menard on paternity leave, he was on stand-by to relief drive for Paul Menard at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Kobalt 400, due to Menard and his wife expecting their first child.^[12] Crafton practiced and qualified for Menard at the Auto Club 400,^[13] qualifying 30th.^[14] At Talladega's 2019 1000Bulbs.com 500, he was on standby for Menard's No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford while Menard was dealing with neck pain; Crafton practiced the car on Friday.^[15] Menard eventually ran the first stage before Crafton relieved him for the remainder of the race;^[16] he was involved in a multi-car wreck on lap 163 but finished 14th.^[17][18]

In 2014, he attempted to make his Cup Series debut with RAB Racing in the No. 29 at the Brickyard 400, but failed to qualify.^[19] Later in the year, he returned to the Childress Cup paddock, qualifying the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevy at the Pure Michigan 400 in place of Martin Truex Jr., who was on leave as his girlfriend, Sherry Pollex, underwent cancer treatment.^[20]

Crafton ran his first Cup race in the

• Crafton holds the record for the most consecutive Truck Series starts by an active driver.
• In the third race of the 2013 season, Crafton passed Terry Cook's record of consecutive starts in the series. Cook had previously held the record with 296 consecutive starts.
• Crafton currently holds the record for the fastest qualifying lap at Martinsville Speedway in a truck. Crafton set the record on October 29, 2011, with a qualifying lap of 19.653 seconds (96.352 mph)^[23]

• On August 6, 2011, Crafton and teammate
  Roush Fenway Racing
  's previous record of 353.
• On November 14, 2014, Crafton became the first back-to-back NCWTS champion.
• On November 15, 2019, Crafton claimed his 3rd career Championship despite going winless for the second season in a row. He became the first in Series history to claim a Championship despite finishing a season winless and the second to pull off the feat in any Series since Austin Dillon in 2013.

Other racing

In 2012, Crafton, supported by

Crafton raced in the 2014 and 2015 IWK 250 pro stock races at Riverside International Speedway in support of the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.^[26] Crafton sat on the pole for the 2014 edition of the race, and wound up finishing 10th, one lap down.^[27] In 2015 Crafton started third and quickly made his way to the front of the pack before retiring from the race with brake failure, ultimately finishing 21st.^[28]

In March 2019, Crafton participated in the Michelin Pilot Challenge sports car race at Sebring International Raceway, driving a Ford for Multimatic Motorsports alongside ThorSport Racing teammates Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, and Myatt Snider.^[29]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Cup Series

Daytona 500

Nationwide Series

Craftsman Truck Series

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

Camping World West Series

ARCA Racing Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matt Crafton.

• Official website
• Official profile at ThorSport Racing
• Matt Crafton driver statistics at Racing-Reference

Sporting positions
Preceded by Kurt Busch	NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour Champion 2000	Succeeded by Craig Raudman
Preceded by James Buescher Brett Moffitt	NASCAR Truck Series Champion 2013, 2014 2019	Succeeded by Erik Jones Sheldon Creed