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Truck Series

Truckin’ Thursdays: Peters’ Roots, King’s Return and Newberry’s Experience

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Once again, the Camping World Truck Series sits idle while the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series head off to Darlington Raceway. And during down times like the ones that have plagued the early parts of the year for a while now, there’s little going on that’s worth talking about. So to help keep the Truck Series in your mind ahead of next Friday night’s showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway, I’m here to share some of the latest and greatest news coming out of the series.

Truckin’ Thursdays: Matt Crafton On ThorSport’s Recent Success

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Just four races into the 2013 season, ThorSport Racing has visited Victory Lane in three of four events, while drivers Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter sit one-two in the Camping World Truck Series championship standings. Despite a lackluster year last season, both Crafton and Sauter have finished in the top 10 in points for six and four consecutive year, respectively, making their organization the closest thing to “dynasty” you can get in one of NASCAR’s lower divisions. So what is the key to their success and longevity in the sport? I sat down with Crafton at Kansas Speedway almost two weeks ago, after the Truck Series’ final practice session, to talk a little about just that.

Truckin’ Thursdays: Miguel Paludo on Rockingham, Boston And The NHRA

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We made a ton of progress at Rockingham last weekend. It’s a track that I struggled a lot at last year. We started outside the top 20 and worked our way into the top 10, before dropping back to where we finished. I was just ready to be done at Rockingham last year, but now I started liking it. When you run good at a race track, you want to go back. I felt like we did a great job our second time there. We ran in the top 10, and the guys did awesome pit stops. We’re putting everything together that we need to. Especially at Rockingham, it’s easy to spin your tires on the restart. Overall, it was a great effort for us and we gained in the championship battle, and it means a lot at a special place like that.

We had a really fast truck at Kansas right off of the truck, and we ran so well in both practices. I almost thought we would get the pole, until James [Buescher] beat us at the last second. We started on the front row with both of my teammates right there with me, and I led some laps there. That truck was so fast but someone got loose inside me and the damage when I hit the wall ended the day for us.

Tracking the Trucks: SFP 250

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*In a Nutshell:* Matt Crafton took the checkered flag 0.167 seconds ahead of Joey Coulter to score his third career victory in Saturday afternoon’s SFP 250 from Kansas Speedway. Crafton took the lead with fresher tires for the second and final time on lap 138, and despite numerous challenges from Coulter, he led the final 30 laps to become the 13th different winner in 13 events at the speedway. Rookie Ryan Blaney, Brendan Gaughan and Johnny Sauter rounded out the top 5.