The more things change, the more they stay the same.  The adage applies to Matt Crafton as the driver of the No. 88 Menards Silverado heads for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series O'Reilly 200 at Memphis Motorsports Park on Saturday.

Plenty has changed for Crafton and crew this season.  He won his first NCTS race on NASCAR'S home turf in Charlotte in dramatic fashion.  He has collected five top-5 finishes already this season, one below his career best mark for a full season, set in 2004.  He is 3rd in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings and a strong contender for a championship.

What hasn't changed is Crafton's competitive zeal and constant push for improvement.  Already the owner of more than eighty career top-10 finishes, Crafton keeps raising the expectations bar, and who knows where the limit might be?

"We've done some good things this season, but there's lots of racing left and we have to be on top of our game every week," Crafton said.  "We want to win a championship, and we feel like we have the pieces in place to do it.  But we also know that just finishing in the top-10 isn't enough to get us where we want to be.  We're pushing for top-5 finishes every week, and we're not satisfied with anything else.  That's the biggest difference from the past…we've had strong runs and a bunch of top-10 finishes before, but the expectations have gone up.  We know we have to be as sharp as possible each week, and we can't afford to make mistakes."

His arrival in Memphis would seem to bode well for Crafton's mission.  In 7 starts at Memphis Motorsports Park, he has finished in the top-10 six times.  Crafton finished 3rd in the '06 race.

"I love racing at Memphis," said Crafton.  "It's probably one of my top-3 favorite tracks.  The short-track feel, the outcome is more in the driver's hands here than at some of the other tracks.  The track really wears tires out…you can fall off quite a bit from the beginning of a run to the end.  You have to be very disciplined with the throttle, have to take care of your equipment early in the run.  Memphis reminds me of Mesa Marin in Bakersfield, which isn't around anymore but was one of my favorite tracks to run back in the day."

Despite his success thus far this season, Crafton maintains his weekly focus on the task at hand. "Whether you finish in the top-5 or have a night where things don't go as well as you'd like, you have to put it behind you quickly and be ready for the next race," he said.  "We've done a good job of that so far, and we have to keep doing it."