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02-12-2003
Crafton Fast in Daytona Testing
TruckSeries.com Report
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After struggling to get into the top-20 in practice and qualifying, Matt
Crafton's SpeedWeeks' effort picked up the pace when drafting began at the
Daytona International Speedway Wednesday, February 12. Crafton posted the
fastest lap of the day's two test sessions for the NASCAR Truck Series entrants.
Crafton's fastest lap around the 2.5-mile oval was 47.421 seconds (189.789 miles
per hour). He turned in that performance in the opening session. He backed it
with a 47.912/187.844 lap in the afternoon, 15th-quick in that session.
"We got a pretty good tow from Ted Musgrave in that first session and ended up
getting the fast time for the day," Crafton said. "The Menards/Enzyme Solutions
Chevrolet likes the draft a lot better than it liked running alone.
"We got pretty loose in the traffic in the second session. It's an aero issue,
nothing mechanical. We'll work some more on it for tomorrow and see if we can
make it better."
Despite the good lap, Crafton was a little frustrated with the drafting
sessions.
"It's not like it was my first couple of years here," he said. "With the
two-inch air hoses on the air cleaners, down from three-inches, we don't have as
much horsepower as we used to. It's made it like restrictor plate racing.
"You get in the draft and get a good run, but you don't have the horsepower to
cut through the air and finish the pass. You end up running side-by-side like
they do in the Cup and Busch cars with the restrictor plates. Hopefully we won't
have the big crash in our race like they do sometimes in Cup and Busch."
The 2003 truck series campaign begins Friday, February 14 with the Florida Dodge
Dealers 250. The race will be telecast live on the SpeedChannel and broadcast on
the affiliates of the Motor Racing Network.
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