Catchfence

Avondale, AZ – February 27, 2011- ThorSport Racing’s No. 88 Menards/Ideal Door team showcased their talents at Phoenix International Raceway and proved that they were a team in the Championship running this year by demonstrating a solid performance and bringing home a seventh-place finish in the 2011 Lucas Oil 150.

Matt Crafton lined up the No. 88 Menards/Ideal Door Chevrolet Silverado in the 6th position and ran as high as fifth in the race’s first 20 laps, before the first caution flag flew on lap 41. On the restart in 8th position after four tires & fuel, he motored to as high as third position behind Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch. As the caution flags were more prevalent with 50 to go, Crafton wheeled the No. 88 through two more pit stops, coming out in 4th position at lap 111; then taking two tires at lap 132′s caution and coming out in 6th position. In the final laps, Crafton navigated through several on-track incidents to power his No. 88 Menards / Ideal Door Chevrolet Silverado into the 7th position at the checkers.

The solid finish not only gives Crafton his second top 10 in two races (after Daytona’s 10th finishing spot) for ThorSport Racing, but also lands him in the top position in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver points going into Darlington on March 12.

Matt Crafton Quote:

“We had a great truck in Phoenix, it was awesome on the long runs. Bud (Haefele, crew chief) and the guys set it up perfectly. It’s a shame we had to take 2 tires to try for track position late in the race, happened with several other frontrunners too. We know we’re fast and my team is fast, but if we can’t beat them off pit road, then we can’t win races. We’re going to keep working towards Darlington and stay up in the points race. It’s great to be first in driver points, but we’re on race 2 of 25. We’re looking to keep that consistency over the race season.”

Next Race:

Too Tough to Tame 200

Darlington Raceway

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Practice: 9am-10am and

10:30am-12:00pmET

Qualifying: 3:15pm

Race: 5:00pm on SPEED, SiriusXM Radio, MRN Radio

- ThorSport Racing Press Release