Matt Crafton captures Truck pole over Todd Bodine at Texas Motor Speedway
ThorSport Racing's Matt Crafton won the pole position for Friday night's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
FORT WORTH, Texas – Todd Bodine appears well on his way to another strong outing at Texas Motor Speedway, but Matt Crafton might have something to say about whether that translates into another Bodine victory.
Crafton beat out Bodine to win the pole Thursday night for Friday night’s WinStar World Casino 350 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas.
Crafton topped Bodine with a lap of 179.354 mph to earn his third career pole and second of the season in the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Chevrolet.
“The truck’s been just awesome since we rolled off the trailer,” Crafton said. “As crazy as it sounds, I think I have a better race truck than I do a qualifying truck.”
Bodine, who is seeking his sixth win in 11 Texas starts, posted a lap of 178.235 mph in his Germain Racing Toyota to take the outside of the front row.
“You can’t come in here with that air of confidence or cockiness that it’s automatically a win for you,” Bodine said. “We know we run well and that gives us a little edge that we have that, but we’ve got to go out and race. You’ve still got to go out and do the job no matter what.”
SS Green Light Racing’s Chad McCumbee was third, while series points leader Ron Hornaday was fourth in his Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet. Hornaday has a 202-point lead on Crafton with three races left in the season.
ThorSport’s David Gilliland was fifth. Positions six through 10 belonged to ThorSport’s Johnny Sauter, Billy Ballew Motorsports’ Aric Almirola, Circle Bar Racing’s Rick Crawford, KHI’s Ricky Carmichael and Circle Bar’s James Buescher.
Tagsby Racing’s Lance Hooper, Corrie Stott Racing’s Andy Ponstein and DGM Racing’s John Jackson failed to qualify.
On-track activities for the Truck series resume with the race, which begins just after 9 p.m. EST Friday.
