Fort Worth, TX (SportsNetwork.com) – With three races to go in the 2014
Camping World Truck Series season, three drivers are in a tight battle for the
championship.
Matt Crafton, the defending series champion, holds an 18-point lead over Ryan
Blaney and a 22-point advantage over Darrell Wallace Jr. Johnny Sauter, who is
Crafton’s teammate at ThorSport Racing, is a now a long shot for the title, as
he trails by 40 points.
No driver has won back-to-back championships in the 20-year history of this
series.
The series is racing at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night and then
competing one week later at Phoenix International Raceway before wrapping up
the season on Nov. 14 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
In June, Crafton won at Texas for the first time in 27 truck races there. The
series has been competing at this 1.5-mile track twice each season since 1999.
Crafton put on a dominating performance in the most recent truck event there,
leading 118 of 167 laps, but had to conserve his fuel in the closing stages
after last pitting with 61 laps to go.
“Getting a win at Texas was really cool,” Crafton said. “In June, the track is
hot and slippery but this weekend, there will be cooler temps and a lot of
grip, so it’ll be faster. This race is 20 laps shorter, so we’ll have to see
how the race plays out, but I feel confident we can pull off a sweep.”
Crafton claimed his second win of the season at Texas but has not been into
victory lane since. He has finished sixth or better in seven of the last eight
races, including a third-place run last Saturday at Martinsville Speedway.
Blaney led a total of 45 laps in the June race at Texas but ended up finishing
fourth.
“We had a great Ford F-150 in the first race at Texas,” Blaney said. “We had
a good shot at winning, and it was just kind of a fuel strategy deal that put
us back to fourth.”
Blaney has one win this season, which occurred in August at Canadian Tire
Motorsport Park. He has finished 10th or better in the last four races.
Wallace claimed his third victory of the season at Martinsville. He also
finished second at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway
before placing ninth at Talladega Superspeedway.
“We have the momentum on our side from the win at Martinsville, and our mile-
and-a-half program has really improved this season,” Wallace said. “We have
been fast on mile-and-a-half tracks, including Texas earlier this season.
Since we were last at Texas, I think we have improved even more, and at our
last mile-and-a-half race (Sept. 27 at Las Vegas), we ran up front, led laps
and came up just short of a win.
Wallace has finished 6th, 7th and 10th in his three truck races at Texas.
“I think we have what it takes to make that a top five this weekend and even
contend for the win,” he added.
Kyle Busch, who is Wallace’s teammate and team owner, is competing in this
race. Busch has two truck victories at Texas (the fall events in 2009 and
’10). He has the most wins in the series this season with six.
Thirty-two teams are on the entry list for the WinStar World Casino 350.
Series: NASCAR Camping World. Date: Friday, Oct. 31. Race: WinStar World
Casino 350. Site: Texas Motor Speedway. Track: 1.5-mile oval. Start time: 8:30
p.m. ET. Laps: 147. Miles: 220.5. 2013 Winner: Ty Dillon. Television: FOX
Sports 1. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.
