Matt Crafton in the No. 88 Marvel Mystery Oil Chevy Silverado at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

After struggling for much of Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway, Matt Crafton recalled some advice he received from the late Davey Allison.

"I told Bud (No. 88 crew chief Haefele) on the radio that some days it's better to be lucky than good," said Crafton, who rebounded from a 30th place start to finish 10th. "Davey told me that a long time ago, and it sure was true at Kansas. We fought handling issues with the truck all night. We just could never get comfortable with it. It's the same truck we had at Atlanta and California and ran well, but we missed something with it this time around. We didn't have a very good truck tonight, so to be able to find a way to finish in the top-10 despite our problems is huge."

During early practice for the race, the nose of the No. 88 Menards Chevrolet Silverado was scraping the racetrack, forcing the team to cut the session short to make adjustments. The second practice session was canceled due to weather. "We stopped early during the first practice to try to make adjustments to have the truck ready for the second practice," Crafton said. "When it was canceled, we knew we were gonna have to make lots of changes during the race. I'm so thankful to our guys for the work they did in the pits. They changed so much on the truck during pit stops. They crawled under the left side and unbolted the track bar, dropped the trak bar on the left side…just made so many changes to try to get the truck right. The truck was pretty good on fresh tires for the first handful of laps, then would start plowing and it just wouldn't turn. The guys in the pits worked their rear ends off for me, and I appreciate it."

Crafton salvaged the finish by staying on the track during a late pit stop, gaining valuable positions on an otherwise off night. "We played our cards right, and the pit strategy fell our way," said Crafton. "We didn't have a 10th place truck, but we were fortunate."

The finish was Crafton's third in the top-10 this season. He is in 8th place in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings. Crafton and crew head for Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Quaker Steak & Lube 200 presented by Circle K on May 18.

"Charlotte is an awesome place to race," Crafton said. "There's just so much history and excitement there. We'll get a couple of days to test at Lowe's before the race, which will be valuable. Last year, the track had been repaved and we were working with a different tire, and it was tough to get ahold of the track. Goodyear is bringing a different tire again this year, so we'll see what we've got and be ready to go."