Matt Crafton Comes Up Cluth At Dover International Raceway
Not even Friday the 13th could stop Matt Crafton from getting his first win of the season at Dover International Raceway.
It may have been Friday the 13th but luck was definitely on Matt Crafton’s side as he was able to hold off Daniel Suarez in the closing laps of the Jacob Companies 200 at Dover International Raceway. The win was Crafton’s first ever at Dover, the 12th win of his career and his first win of the 2016 season. The win also helps Crafton claim a spot in the 2016 Camping World Truck Series playoffs.
JGR driver, Daniel Suarez, tried to chase Crafton down in the closing laps for the first victory of his Xfinity Series career, but ultimately was bested by the veteran driver at the end of the day. Christopher Bell brought his truck home third, Johnny Sauter came home fourth and Cole Custer rounded out the top-five. It is also worth noting that Custer overcame a penalty for jumping the final restart. To obtain his top five finish.
“We’ve gotten close and we’ve had very fast trucks and this truck was very, very good today It’s all about the guys behind me” Crafton told reporters after bringing his truck to victory lane to celebrate a hard earned win with his team. Crafton also credited much of the win to his crew chief, Junior Joiner.
“This team never gives up because we weren’t very good in the last practice. We were 21st. Junior (Joiner, crew chief) and I sat down and talked for a while — and we talked again. I just showed up later and let him do his work. They worked on it all day — a little air pressure here and a little air pressure there and finally this thing was right on.”
While Suarez didn’t come home with the win on Friday afternoon, he kept his poise and looked like a veteran out on the track as he tried to chase down Crafton in the closing laps of the race. Suarez did come close to victory at several points during the last 27 laps of the race, even using the high line to gain momentum and come within two tenths of a second of Crafton, but lap traffic would be his undoing.
“When I was moving to the top, I thought I was making some ground, but the slow cars were on the top, so it was difficult for me to keep the momentum and stay there,” Suárez said after coming up short in the final laps, “I don’t know what I could have done different to try to complete the pass.
It wasn’t all good news for a consistent Suarez however, as his #51 Toyota Camry was said to be too low in the left rear during post-race inspection. No penalties have been announced as of yet for the issue but if they are, it will reportedly come on Tuesday of next week. Last week’s winner, William Byron, finished 11th after fading to the back of the pack towards the end of the race.
Point standings after Dover:
- Matt Crafton 1 win -0
- Timothy Peters 0 wins -2
- Daniel Hemric 0 wins -5
- Ryan Truex 0 wins -6
- Spencer Gallagher 0 wins -12
- William Byron 1 win – 13
- John Hunter Nemechek 1 win – 18
- Tyler Young 0 wins -23
- Christopher Bell 0 wins -25
- Tyler Reddick -28