The resiliency for which Matt Crafton and the No. 88 Menards Chevrolet Silverado team is known was on display again at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, as Crafton wheeled to a 7th place finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Sam's Town 400.

It was Crafton's fifth top-10 finish in nine races this season and fifth overall in the top-10 at Texas. "All in all, we had a really good truck, probably a top-five truck if we could've maintained our track position there toward the end, but (race winner Todd) Bodine stayed out on that last caution, and we ended up a lap down," Crafton said. "I'm proud of the way we battled all night."

Crafton and crew bounced back from rough weekends at Mansfield and Dover to reestablish all-important momentum heading into Saturday's Michigan 200 at Michigan International Speedway. "We ran well the last couple of weeks, but unfortunately things happened that were out of our control and didn't have the good finishes to show for it," said Crafton. "We all know how that goes sometimes. You have to stay focused, and our guys do a great job of that. I've got all the confidence in the world in them."

Crafton moved to 9th place in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings. A mere nine points separates drivers in the seventh thru tenth positions in the standings entering Michigan.

"I love racing at Michigan," Crafton said of the two-mile superspeedway. "There's lots of room to run at MIS, and you can run wide-open for a bit, but the track will wear your tires down fairly quickly. Usually after ten or fifteen laps, your tires will wear and you'll start slipping around a little. I like that, because it brings the driver's skill into the equation."

As the veteran Crafton knows well, consistency is a huge part of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship equation, and he feels his team is up to the task. "It was important for us to come back strong at Texas after a couple of tough finishes, and we did that," Crafton said. "It speaks to the determination our team has. We know that there's slim margin for error in this series, and you've got to be at your best each week. We'll give it all we have at Michigan, and I'm confident it'll be a good day for us.'