Matt Crafton
Matthew " Matt" Crafton ( born June 11, 1976 in Tulare, California) is an American race car driver who currently drives in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. There he piloted the Menards Chevrolet Silverado with the start number 88 Thor Sport Racing. In the 2009 season he finished second overall.
Career
Crafton began his career at the age of seven, when he was given a go- kart. He has won numerous regional and national titles before he resemble the age of 15 years on Midgets, vehicles, karts, transition. He won 20 major races in Midgets. In 1996 he went into the Featherlite Southwest Series, where he won the championship in 2000. In 1998, he gained national prominence by taking part in the Winter Heat Series, which was shown on the U.S. television channel ESPN. He stood among others drivers like Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Ron Hornaday Jr. at.
In 2000, Crafton made his debut in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in the season finale, the Motorola 200 at California Speedway. He started in 17th place and came at a very good ninth place finish. In the 2001 season he was the full-time pilots of Thor Sport Racing. He remained there until the end of the 2003 season. Doing so, he came 28 times in the Top 10, but not once in the top fifth The best rankings in races in 2001 were ranked sixth in 2002, seventh in 2003 and again in sixth place. The best placement in the driver's Appreciation eleventh place in the 2003 season.
At the start of the 2004 season Crafton signed a contract with Kevin Harvick Incorporated, which gave him the opportunity for a whole year for Harvick to drive. He came the first time in the Craftsman Truck Series in the top 5, his best results were two third places in the O'Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway and in the Chevy Silverado 150 at Phoenix International Raceway. He finished fifth overall. Nevertheless, he returned to Thor Sport Racing, where he could no longer build on the successes in which he celebrated with Kevin Harvick Incorporated. In 2005, he secured on the New Hampshire International Speedway his first pole position in the series, but different from, and was only 35th in the race. The season he finished in ninth place overall. In the 2006 season he drove for Thor Sport Racing and came up four times in the top fifth He fell in the season only once and finished at the end of 14th place overall. In the 2007 season Crafton drove only once in the top 5, but had frequent bad luck, but it was enough for eighth place overall. He was next to Rick Crawford is one of only two riders in the top 10 of the points that could enter no victory.
In the 2008 season he will start for Thor Sport Racing. On 16 May 2008, he won his first race, the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Lowe 's Motor Speedway. The following year was in a total of 21 top- 10 finishes at the best of his career. In the championship Crafton finished second.
Crafton launched in more than 250 consecutive races in the Camping World Truck Series.