After watching Kyle Busch win his fifth consecutive start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Matt Crafton finally came up with a way to stop the all-conquering Busch and his No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota Tundra.
"I am just going to get a key to his motorhome and lock him in it and duct tape the whole thing," Crafton said after finishing second to Busch in Friday night's Winstar World Casino 350 at Texas Motor Speedway. "That is exactly what I told him: I was going to have to lock him up in his motorhome. That is all there is to it. Just take him out of the equation."
Crafton's frustration was understandable. Friday night's race was the fourth time this season that the 33-year-old Tulare, Calif., native has finished second in a Truck Series race. With just two races left on the schedule this year, he's running out of time to get his first victory of 2009, and he'll need a miracle to knock third-place finisher Ron Hornaday Jr. out of the points lead in that time. Hornaday leads Crafton by 197 points — more than one full race — and appears headed to his fourth series title.
At Texas, Crafton led 26 laps, but he and Hornaday had to feather their throttles to save fuel in their Chevrolets at the end, while Busch could run wide open in his Toyota.
"It is just very frustrating to finish second to anybody," said Crafton. "Finished second here in June and I said it then, we had probably one of the best trucks here that night and led laps and there at the end of that deal, we came down pit road and we had to put fuel and tires on. … The Toyotas just had to come in and just take tires and not get fuel and we came out seventh because we had to do both of them. We drove back through everybody and ended up finishing second there. We were running the leader down just like we were tonight, same deal. Came up a little bit short then. We are there. Everything just has to line up and you have to have a good night."
And Crafton was convinced that if fuel mileage hadn't factored into it, his ThorSport Racing Chevy would have won. "I honestly felt like I had the best truck tonight," said Crafton. "In clean air, tire for tire, I think if that was my truck in front there at the end, I think I could have driven away from Kyle. Really, truthfully, I know I would have driven away from Kyle."
