Matt Crafton settled for a 6th place finish instead of apparent victory in a bizarre ending to the Copart 200 at Gateway International Raceway on Saturday.
Crafton overcame some strange late-race happenings, including a black flag with a few laps to go, en route to the finish.
Crafton, who is 2nd in the NCWTS standings, started the race in 6th place and quickly moved into the top-5, where, save for a brief period spent outside the top-10 following truck adjustments to cure a splitter problem, he stayed for the duration of the race.
Crafton was in 3rd place during a restart with nine laps remaining when the driver of the No. 30 truck, who admittedly struggled on restarts throughout the race, tried to block an apparently already-there Crafton on the inside and spun, yielding a caution.
Crafton was in 2nd place when green-flag racing resumed with four laps to go. Crafton, who was strong on restarts all afternoon, had a run on the race-leading No. 33 truck and darted to inside position. The driver of the No. 33 truck attempted to pinch Crafton, who held his ground, and the No. 33 truck spun, bringing out a caution.
To the likely surprise of many race fans, Crafton was black-flagged.
He salvaged a 6th place finish, far from the victory he would likely have claimed.
"Without a doubt, our No. 88 Menards Chevy was awesome today, and we were positioned for the win," Crafton said. "I'm really thankful to the guys on this team for their efforts today. We did everything we had to do, and were right there. Sometimes, things happen out there, or decisions are made, that are out of your control, and that's what we faced today. We're not happy about it, and anyone who saw what happened can easily make up their own minds. It's definitely a strange deal, to say the least. But, given the circumstances, I wouldn't have changed anything. I'm proud of our guys, and they deserved that win. As always, we'll be focused and ready for New Hampshire, and hopefully, we can come out of there with a victory."
