Matt Crafton is having a breakout season so far with ThorSport Racing, his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team, based in Ohio.  Crafton has tallied finishes of 8^th in the Daytona season opener, 11^th at Fontana, California, and 3^rd at Atlanta.   By most any team’s standards this would denote that the No. 88 Menards Chevrolet team and it’s driver could be an early favorite to contend for a title in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2007.  Before Crafton took to the track this past weekend I spent a few moments to discuss his thoughts on his season, his team, and the challenges he has overcome.

 

2007 Season

 

At this point in the season teams have developed an idea for whether or not the work in the off season will prove productive on the track.  Coming in to the Martinsville Kroger 250 Crafton and his team are ranked 6^th in the season point standings.  How does he personally feel that things have been going? “Actually it has been going…well up until this weekend…we haven’t had any bumps in the road.  This weekend we really changed a whole lot in practice. After practice we changed a lot of spindles, three springs, and a sway-bar before we went to qualify.  So we really didn’t know what we were going to come to qualify with here today but all in all these guys have built awesome brand new trucks. From Daytona to California to Atlanta we have had three awesome races and we are hoping for a fourth here at Martinsville” Crafton stated of his teams efforts.  When asked about his position in the NCTS point standings Crafton was quick to offer his thoughts “I am not worried about points right now.”  At least not right now. “Yeah it is WAY too early to be worried about points right now.  You just go out there and race every race.  Race like you are there to win every race. The points will come when you have the finishes.  You gotta take care of your stuff. You’ve gotta finish the race…you have to win the battle not the war.”

 

Changes and Splitters

 

When Matt was asked about having the splitter and the changes to the setups of the trucks?  Have you had any problems with the new changes? “The splitter has been an issue for some people. At California we fought it a little bit…we hit the race track with it a little bit.  Its definitely a lot harder than it was last year but we knew that we were getting a splitter the way we were this year so we really worked on really trying to stay off of the splitter last year to try to make it better for this year.  I think that has really helped us this year just keeping that nose off of the race track.  I think a lot of teams have struggled with it hitting the race track and that hurting them so hopefully we can keep us that head start and keep it going all year.”  

 

The Team that supports the Driver

 

Talking with Matt Crafton about what his thoughts were currently on his team and the effort that they are putting into both his effort and as a whole. Crafton was very quick to compliment the work that they put forth “Oh yeah these guys have been awesome.  They have built an awesome fleet of trucks.  We don’t have a whole lot of trucks right now we are still getting bodies hung on a lot of them and still doing a whole lot of work on the other ones.  The same truck we ran at California we ran at Atlanta it is one of my favorite trucks out of the whole fleet.  We have worked really, really, hard over the winter and we really struggled on pit stops last year…we would have good ones and then we would have bad ones.  The consistencies on pit stops this year is just become unreal every time we come in we have picked up spots at least a spot this year.  I think thank them enough and they have worked their tails off all winter on pit stops.”  ThorSport, being one of a handful of teams, not located in or near other shops in North Carolina.  How does this offer a unique challenge to him as a driver and the team as a whole?  Crafton was candid in saying “No not at all.  These guys all believe in me and I believe in them.  I think it is good (to a point) that I am not there, at the shop, everyday.  When you are there every day at the shop you always get to hear the drama and the gossip between each and every guy because when you get a group of twenty guys you are going to have problems with one or a few of them.  When you don’t have to deal with that every day it is a good thing.  I go up there about once or twice a month go see them and hang out with them for a few days then come home.  I think that is really a good thing.  The only downfall, I think, of being in Ohio is we have a really great group of people a really small group of guys maybe 7 or 8 guys who work on my team on a full time basis.  I think it is harder to get more people in Ohio really quality people.  We have a great group right now and I hope that they stay with us for a long time.” 

 

Getting Personal with Matt Crafton

 

Often times it is difficult to really take some time to get personal with today's up and coming stars.  What they have to face is sometimes a daunting amount of challenges so when asked “What have been some of your most difficult to overcome struggles, personally, and as a driver?” Crafton was quick to give us a glimpse of how it has been and how he handles the challenge. “Lots of mental stuff.  This racing is a big mental deal.  You have to go from the race on Saturday or Sunday and let it go on Monday.  That is what I have been told and I have worked on that over the last few years just to let things go on Monday.”  Jack Sprague interrupts at this point putting his elbows on the drink cooler and listening as this interview goes on….”go ahead..finish” Sprague joked. Crafton continues distracted by his competitor but laughing about his having positioned himself in the center of the interview. “If you let things eat at you all week then it affects you for the next race…that is the biggest thing I have learned personally and for racing.”

 

We know what Matt Crafton as a driver but what does he do for fun away from the track?

“I have Jet Ski’s and RC cars….I love to play golf I don’t get to do it much. I stay pretty busy. I love going to the lake and have a lot of fun.”

 

Martinsville another challenge Crafton proves to be tough enough to complete

 

After suffering through a plethora of incidents on the tiny paperclip of Martinsville a battered No. 88 Menards Chevrolet proved to not only win the battle but continue to strive to win the war.  Crafton battled through a mentally and physically exhausting NCTS FOX debut to a 17^th place lead lap finish.  This finish does not quite show the effort put forth into this race having been at one time completely pinned between the No. 47 entry and the front-stretch wall.  Thankfully on Monday this team begins to work toward Kansas and leaves that tough day behind along with the heartburn caused by the Martinsville hot dogs.