DOVER, Del. — Once Matt Crafton took the lead on Friday prior to the start of Stage 2 at Dover Int’l Speedway, he never relinquished it, leading 43 straight laps to notch his first stage win of the season.
The two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion took the 10 bonus points and playoff point at the end of the rainbow as trucks crashed in Turn 1 on the final lap of the 45-lap stint, forcing a caution-flag finish.
Crafton had to hold-off a late charge by Stage 1 winner Ryan Truex, who charged from fourth to second on a two-lap dash to finish the stage just before the caution came out.
Following pit stops, Crafton gridded up 12th for the start of the Bar Harbor 200’s second half, saying it’s a “night and day difference” racing in traffic compared to being out front.
“It was good to get a segment win and lead a few laps there,” Crafton said. “Our truck, when you get it out front, has a lot of speed. We’ve got some work to do to get through these boys again, but we’ll see what we can do.”
“This thing is a handful in dirty air and really, really good in clear air, but hey … that’s what we get paid to do, is drive them in both.”
Truex hung on for the runner-up spot, ahead of Ben Rhodes and Todd Gilliland, who is making his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut and ran as high as second during the second stage.
Austin Cindric was the highest-finishing Ford driver in Stage 2, coming in fifth ahead of Jesse Little, Harrison Burton, his teammate Chase Briscoe and the Chevrolets of Johnny Sauter and Kaz Grala.
The stage went 20 laps straight under the green flag, before Justin Haley spun off Turn 4 while running second on lap 74 and nosed into the inside wall.
That sparked a caution-laden run to the stage break, which saw Gilliland fall into second behind Crafton before Jordan Anderson stalled in Turn 3 with six to go in the stage, setting up the green-white-checkered dash to complete Stage 2.
On that dash, Parker Kligerman got turned on the frontstretch by a spinning John Hunter Nemechek, collecting T.J. Bell as the field entered Turn 1 and freezing the field in the process.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
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