Matt Crafton Credit: High Sierra Photo

Crafton's championship hopes will be tested at Las Vegas

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Championship race teams all have many of the same characteristics.

They have to have excellent leadership, a solid pit crew, strong engines and a great driver. They all have to be fast, of course, and they have to maintain some level of consistency.

They have to be able to turn bad days into decent days and decent days into great days. And they have to be able to bounce back from trouble, responding to adversity with a strong work ethic.

Matt Crafton

Are Matt Crafton and his Kevin Harvick Inc. team championship material?

Beginning with Saturday's Las Vegas 350, we'll all find out.

Crafton is in the middle of an intense points battle in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. But despite being 154 points out of the lead in fourth place, Crafton has had two poor finishes in a row.

One more bad finish, and his title hopes are likely gone.

Two races ago, Crafton was running sixth when a caution mandated a green-white-checkered finish at Richmond. But a battle with Shane Hmiel turned that into a 23rd-place result.

Last weekend at New Hampshire, Crafton was in the top five when eventual race winner Travis Kvapil collided with him. That resulted in a 13th-place finish.

"I had one championship in the Southwest Tour Series," Crafton said. "The year I won, I had two bad races back-to-back with five races to go. They always say you become a championship driver and team from how you rebound from the less fortunate ones. Let's hope that's the case this year."

Crafton will need to show some strength in the remaining seven races. Being 154 points out of first isn't impossible to make up, but Crafton needs to avoid some of the trouble that has plagued him recently.

"You are always going to have those hiccups in the middle or towards the end of the season," Crafton said. "It's all about how you can rebound from them, which can highlight a championship contending team from the rest. I'm looking forward to Vegas, and I know the guys are pumped for it. We have had decent runs the last two races and have just had unfortunate mishaps end them."

Crafton's confidence remains high despite the trouble. He's fired up about ending an 89-race losing streak and helping Harvick's team get in Victory Lane.

"We are going to go at these last seven races as if we need to win every single one of them with Las Vegas being the first," Crafton said. "We have tried to win every one of them as of now, but forget points racing. We are on a mission now. We have got to win a race. This is starting to get aggravating."

A victory would help him close ground on the three drivers in front of him in the points: leader Bobby Hamilton, second-place Dennis Setzer and third-place Carl Edwards.

The top three are within 39 points of one another, with Crafton 115 behind Edwards. Ted Musgrave is eight points behind Crafton, with Kvapil 22 behind Musgrave.

That could all change at Las Vegas, the 1.5-mile track north of Sin City. LVMS is a big, fast track in the mold of other D-shaped ovals.

"It's an intermediate racetrack, but without the heavy banking like Charlotte," said Wally Rogers, Crafton's crew chief. "You have to find a happy medium for the truck's setup. The track surface is very smooth. The more motor you have the better. Finding a good balance, from the front to rear, is very important. The track is a lot like Kansas City or Chicago. Crafton likes those kinds of tracks, so we should be pretty good."

Crafton hasn't had the best of luck at Las Vegas, though. He's only recorded one top-10 in three races, blowing engines the other two events.

"Believe it or not, I actually like the place a lot even though my track record doesn't show it," Crafton said. "My first year I broke a motor and finished 28th, and the following year I broke another motor, but was able to run around on seven cylinders to finish 25th.

"Last year, I finally overcame my motor problems and finished ninth. It is a really neat racetrack. It reminds me a lot of one of my most favorite mile-and-a-half racetracks, Kentucky."

Crafton hopes his finish Saturday night doesn't remind him of his last two races. If he bounces back from those with a solid run at Las Vegas, the championship could be in sight.