Rough road for Crafton leads to victory lane

NEWTON - The road through hell led to heaven for Matt Crafton.

Just when everything seemed to be working against him in recent week, the veteran driver turned it around and produced a strong finish in his favor.

Matt Crafton captured his first NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series victory in more than three years, winning the Coca-Cola 200 presented by Hy-Vee in front of 24,408 fans Saturday night at Iowa Speedway. The win snapped a 79-race winless streak for Crafton.

Crafton hadn't finished any better than 12th the last four weeks and only completed an entire race once during that stretch. The win came with some redemption.

“The last four weeks were just plain and simple hell. There's no way around it.” Crafton said. “I made mistakes. We blew up. Anything that could have went wrong went wrong the last four weeks. To come back the fifth week and do it like we did it today and earned it on pit road and out on the race track, these guys busting their butts it was awesome.”

Crafton hadn't visited victory lane since claiming his only other NASCAR Trucks win at Charlotte (N.C.) in May 2008. It was a long awaited accomplishment that seemed to come with excitement and relief. Crafton's sixth top-10 finish of the season helped him jump from eighth to fifth in the points standings, only 44 out of first.

“It was a long time since 2008,” said Crafton, who started 11th, which is the worst starting position for a Trucks winner in three races at Iowa Speedway. “We just went out there and whooped them this time."

The whooping came late in the race as Crafton grabbed his first lead with 39 laps remaining, but when he held it he never let it go, despite a late challenge from Austin Dillon, who had dominated the field for 127 laps and looked to be on his way to defending his NASCAR Trucks win at Iowa Speedway.

Dillon closed the gap quickly after starting eighth and passing six cars following the restart from the sixth and final caution of that went green  with 40 laps to go and Todd Bodine in the lead. Dillon, who dominated the field last year before a green-white-checker finish, was the fastest truck most of the night, but couldn't pass Crafton as the pair alternated leads with 12 laps to go.

Crafton knew Dillon was closing in, but didn't want to burn out a tire so he didn't push the truck hard until he needed to once Dillon applied pressure. The veteran driver's experience paid dividends.

“Once he got clear of the (No.) 2 (car), I just wanted to pace myself, and not give him the corner,” Crafton said. “I knew I had to save it so when he got that run, I knew he had a very fast truck, but I knew I saved that little bit so I can lean on it.”

The crew made some air pressure adjustments that worked well when the sweltering heat gave way to a cooler evening. Crew chief Bud Haefle credited his driver for the call.

“My job is easy with this driver,” Haefle said. “He tells me what he wants and I do it and that's what happens out there.”

As quick as Dillon was on the track, a hiccup in pit road cost Dillon the lead during the last caution. Dillon wasn't sure what occurred but mentioned a lost tire and a stumble.

"It's just unacceptable," Dillon said. "My guys do a great job behind pit road. Tonight just wasn't their night."

The disappointment was apparent, but he wasn't going to take away from Crafton's accomplishment.

"What's to say, I was fastest all night," said Dillon, who moved into second, trailing leader Johnny Sauter by 22 points. "I'm not going to be stuck up about it. They had a good car and made the right call at the end."

The race literally came to a screeching halt when Justin Marks slammed into the outside wall of pit road on the inside of the track, causing the fifth caution of the race on lap 102. The red flag was waved five laps later, stopping the race for more than 14 minutes to repair the wall. The stoppage is the first in 11 top pro series events, including five IZOD IndyCar races, and three each in Trucks Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series.

According to officials, Marks was awake and alert, but taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.

David Mayhew captured his first pole in six NCWTS starts, posting a speed of 136.482 miles per hour, in his first trip to Iowa Speedway. His previous best NCWTS start was fifth. He held the lead for little longer than the first 20 laps, enduring two cautions. On the second restart, the field quickly went three-wide before Sauter took the lead. He battled Dillon before losing the lead after eight laps out front.

Mayhew placed third, matching his best finish in three races this season.

"We started off the night really well," Mayhew said. "We were really fast in practice. We were real optimistic going into the race."