MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Matt Crafton may have only run 11 laps during the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice session Friday at Martinsville Speedway, but it was still more than enough to put him atop a 34-truck field for the Texas Roadhouse 200.
Crafton toured the .526-mile oval in 20.129 seconds (94.073 mph) with his No. 88 Menards/Ideal Door Toyota Tundra, firing an early shot as he chases his third-career Ridgeway grandfather clock.
“We’re happy with where we’re at, and we’re limited on tires for these practice sessions, so we ran our 11 laps and that was pretty much it,” Crafton said. “We’ll do a little bit more work in the second round, but I’m feeling good so far and I think we’ve got a really good piece here.”
Playoff leader Christopher Bell held down the second position at the end of first practice (20.129/94.073), followed by his Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Todd Gilliland in third (20.198/93.752), giving Toyota a sweep of the top three positions on the speed charts.
Defending Truck Series champion and defending fall Martinsville winner Johnny Sauter was the fastest Chevrolet driver in fourth (20.212/93.687), with Ben Rhodes and Harrison Burton filling out the top six positions in another pair of Toyotas.
Chase Briscoe finished the first session as the fastest Ford driver in seventh (20.300/93.281).
John Hunter Nemechek, Noah Gragson and Gray Gaulding completed the top-10 on speed in the 55-minute session.
Notables outside the top-10 in the opening practice round included Justin Haley (12th), Cody Coughlin (16th) and playoff contender Austin Cindric (17th), who was the only championship-eligible driver outside the top-10.
Final practice for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series kicks off at 3 p.m. ET, live on FOX Sports 1.
Full practice results can be viewed on the next page…
