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NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 16, 2018

Matt Crafton

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Matt Crafton, driver of the No. 88 Menards Ideal Ford for ThorSport Racing. Matt, you've had five top 5s and four top‑5 finishes this season, and you secured your first dirt track win around this time last year at Eldora. What's your strategy to come out going into this year's race?
MATT CRAFTON: I just stay out of trouble. I mean, just staying out of trouble and having something to work with at the end of the race. Last year we really got the first stage, got off a little bit on the adjustment on the second stage, and the last stage just put it all together and had something to race with at the end.

Q. You won this thing last year; you could become the first guy to win this thing twice in its short history. How about that?
MATT CRAFTON: That would be really, really cool. Right now just going in there and just trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. The track changes so much from the beginning of the race to the end of the race. At the beginning of the race it was really muddy and heavy and fast, and at the end of the race it got slick. You definitely have to be able to pay attention to the track and see what it's going to do and make all the right adjustments.

Q. Is this one of the more difficult events of the year in the Truck Series?
MATT CRAFTON: It's the most different. I don't know about difficult. I feel it's difficult. But a lot of the dirt guys probably don't think so.
I came from an asphalt background, and I've raced some dirt in the last four or five years just because I knew we were going to Eldora, and last year I just went and bought my own dirt car, just bought my own modified and went and raced, oh, 12, 15 races last year and put a lot of focus on it just because I thought that was such a cool race to be able to win and get that golden shovel and that trophy and say we won on asphalt, we won on dirt, we've won some other places. So that was a very sweet victory for sure.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the 2015 race at Eldora. Do you remember that battle? What do you remember about that? And also, does running on dirt promote that kind of racing, that real, physical go‑at‑it kind of stuff?
MATT CRAFTON: Oh, yeah. It was definitely a very, very cool battle, and we'll always remember that, the one‑fingered salute that Norm gave me at the end of the race. But it is definitely a lot more beating and banging than we normally do, just because you're going slower and you're able to do that and bouncing off the wall a little bit more, and you definitely don't do that on an asphalt racetrack, especially because aero means so much, and definitely aero is not key there. As long as you keep all four tires going in the same direction, you're all right.

Q. Has this range changed at all since 2013 in terms of your preparation or mindset going into the race?
MATT CRAFTON: Yeah, that's what I was saying earlier. It's changed a lot. I did a little bit of dirt racing just trying to learn the dirt a little bit, and it helped me. I mean, I ran in the top 10 in the majority of the races, and I just put my head down last year and bought my own dirt car and put a lot of focus on it, and I won at Eldora and won the golden shovel.

Q. When you won this race a year ago, a lot of us didn't necessarily expect you going in to be one of the favorites for the race, and you jumped out and surprised some people. Now coming back with a golden shovel, the dirt experience, can you consider yourself a favorite this year, or with all the ringers in the field, is it still kind of a balance, they have a little bit of an edge just because of the constant dirt racing they get to do?
MATT CRAFTON: Oh, the constant dirt racing they do is definitely a plus for them, but what they don't get to do is race a 34 hundred‑pound truck on dirt. All the dirt cars we get to race are 2,300 pounds, 2,400 pounds, in that range, handle definitely different than the trucks. Trucks are a lot slower, but they're a lot heavier and move around a lot more and just a lot slower reacting. But at the end of the day, they will definitely have a little bit of an advantage. That's why I got the dirt car and tried to prepare myself as much as I could by running as many dirt races as I could right before this race.

Q. As far as the ringers versus the regulars, we know you're chasing points, you're chasing a win. You kind of come into this a little bit similar situation as to where you were last year. You hadn't won coming into this race a year ago and left with the trophy. Is now the time again, and can you replicate that?
MATT CRAFTON: I don't see why we can't. We definitely should be able to if we put ourselves in the right position. There's got to be a lot of the dirt ringers, if you want to call them that, and the guys that race dirt every week. They're going to be very tough, and hopefully they race with respect and don't tear you up. That's some of the things that I worry about. A lot of them are coming out here, and it's going to be their one shot to drive a truck, and they don't get to go race Martinsville or any other place, and they're going to get to come to Eldora, and hopefully they respect us like we would respect them if we came into their series on one of their big shows.

Q. We all know a lot of the best racing comes from the Truck Series. It's so much fun to watch. But what do you think Eldora does? For those who might not have ever seen it or for the visibility of the Truck Series, this one‑off, different race, what does it do for the sport do you think, the Truck Series?
MATT CRAFTON: Oh, it's great for the Truck Series. One of the biggest things I say is standalones. I truly believe the Truck Series should have more standalone events. If you look at St.Louis, the amount of people we get in the stands for that standalone race, it was three‑quarter of the way sold out, if not more. Go to Eldora, the place is going to be packed. We go to Canada alone, the place is going to be packed. When we put us on a Friday night and you're racing with the Cup guys, people can't get off on Friday nights, some of them. I think we need to have more standalone events, and it's something different. Being able to go to Canada and race a road course is something different. I think that brings a lot to the table, as well.

Q. Is that just because of going to a different market, or is it also because if you were with the Cup or Xfinity Series, they would out‑shine or there would be more attention on them and you guys would be less visible?
MATT CRAFTON: I definitely don't think they're going to outshine us in the Xfinity Series. If anybody watches a truck race or Xfinity race, hands down if they're any kind of racer, they're going to see which one is the best. But just the Cup race. Everybody wants to go watch Cup races because that's the top level of NASCAR, like they call it. But at the end of the day, if you want to see great racing, go watch the truck race. And that's where you get some of your hard‑core fans, I think, that come watch us at standalones.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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