Matt Crafton enters the WinStar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday looking to take the No. 88 Australian Gold Silverado to Victory Lane.
Crafton, coming off a 6th place finish at Dover last week, is 3rd in the NCWTS standings and closing on the top spot.
"Dover turned out to be a decent points day for us," Crafton said. "We didn't have the finish we would've liked, because toward the end of the race, our truck was really fast. Unfortunately, we didn't have the track position to make a run at it. That's just the way this deal works sometimes."
Crafton enjoys the high-banks and speeds of Texas Motor Speedway.
"It's an awesome track," he said. "The asphalt has aged well, and there's always good side-by-side racing. It's an exciting race for the drivers and fans."
In 16 career starts at Texas, Crafton owns 7 top-10 finishes. His lone top-5 finish there came in '05.
"We've run well here over the years, but we just really haven't had the finishes to show for it," he said. "Some things have happened that were out of our control. But we always feel like we can win here. We're bringing the truck we ran at Atlanta, Kansas and California, and I think it will be strong for us."
Crafton likes the improvement he sees in the team's 1.5 mi. program.
"It's getting better each time out," he said.
While many drivers would likely trade places with Crafton in terms of his consistency and place in the championship race, he is anything but satisfied.
"We're here to win races and finish in the top-5 every week," he said. "We believe we're capable of it, and that's where our mindset is. We know things happen that are out of our control sometimes, but we expect to put ourselves in position each time out. We won't be satisfied with anything less, and that's what we keep working toward."
