Matt Crafton might be thinking he's experiencing some déjà vu. As the series prepares to head to Kentucky Speedway next weekend, he's sitting right where he was at this point last year, second in points behind leader Ron Hornaday Jr.. This time around though, Crafton is looking to reverse what became of last season.
In eight races at Kentucky, the Tulare, Calif., native has five top-10 and two top-five finishes. He finished third last season, which allowed him to hold on to his second place in the standings. From there, however, he slowly fell back before finishing the year fifth, matching his previous best points finish of 2004.
Surrounded by three former series champions, the driver knows the competition he's up against and how valuable each week is in order to end up on top.
"We're heading into the summer stretch where contenders start to separate themselves from the pack a bit," said Crafton. "Sometimes, you have an awesome truck and maybe don't have a strong finish to show for it. Other times, you're fortunate to finish well when you don't have your best truck. The bottom line with all of it is staying focused on what it takes to be successful each week, on the things we can control. That's what will get us to where we want to be. "
"This series is so competitive and we only have 25 races, so you have to make each race count. It's important to make the absolute most out of your situation each week and the biggest part of that is finishing races. You can't challenge for wins if you're not there at the end; if you're not in position."
Being in Victory Lane is something that took Crafton a while to accomplish. He grabbed his first career win last season at Lowe's Motor Speedway in his 178th start. He's eager to get back there as noted after finishing second to Todd Bodine to take over the points lead at Texas in June. "I would give up the points lead to be where Bodine is tonight," he said.
