Notes: Crafton bidding to become Kansas' next first

Veterans can't wait to race on 1.5-mile tracks where their experience certainly makes a difference.

The most recent seven Craftsman Truck Series champions have won 31 of 71 races held on so-called "intermediate" speedways.

Kansas Speedway, however, is different. Beginning with the late Ricky Hendrick's surprise victory in the 2001 inaugural race, there have been three first-time winners including Erik Darnell (No. 99 Ford) in 2007.

Crafton

That would lead Matt Crafton (No. 88 Chevrolet) to believe the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 on April 26 could be special. Crafton is anything but a rookie but the Tulare, Calif., native remains without a victory in 176 series starts.

Crafton, 31, is on a roll of sorts having finishing second -- a career best -- at Martinsville Speedway on March 29. So why not the next step up?

"To win races, you first have to put yourself in position to be there at the end. We've had top-five finishes before but we haven't been as consistent as we'd have liked," said Crafton, currently sixth in Truck point standings. "Now we really feel like the pieces are in place for us to be [consistent] ... and the wins will come."

Crafton's team, owned by Duke and Rhonda Thorson, has been full time in the series since 1998 and has one victory with Terry Cook. The Ohio-based team also fields a second truck for Shelby Howard (No. 13 ThorSport Racing).

With all-time series winning crew chief Dennis Connor having returned as competition director, Crafton believes anything is possible -- wins and a championship.

"We know if we're doing the things we need to do, we can compete with anybody," Crafton said.

In The Loop: 1 out of 5 in seven at Kansas

Five drivers in the Truck Series have competed in all seven races at Kansas Speedway -- and only one of them has visited Victory Lane.

Terry Cook, Ted Musgrave, Matt Crafton, Rick Crawford and Martinsville winner Dennis Setzer have seven Kansas starts but only Cook has a victory.

One of the remaining four could join Cook -- Crawford. Crawford has two consecutive runner-up finishes at Kansas, and has tremendous statistics at the 1.5-mile track since 2005. Crawford has a Driver Rating of 105.4 (fourth-best), an Average Running Position of 8.3 (third) and he's run 82.1 percent of Laps in the Top 15 (fourth).

The other three drivers need to improve upon past Kansas performances if they want to end their 0-for-7 droughts.

Musgrave notched top-fives in 2001 and '02 but since then has failed to crack the top 10. In the past three races, he has a Driver Rating of 79.4 (13th) and an Average Running Position of 16.4 (14th).

Fast facts

Race	O'Reilly Auto Parts 250
Green	6:23 p.m. ET Saturday
TV	SPEED, 5:30 p.m. ET
Radio	MRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 6 p.m. ET

• Track Page | Tickets

Trucks in Kansas

Performance by winners (active drivers)

Driver	Races	Wins	T-5	T-10
R. Hornaday	8	2	4	6
J. Sprague	10	1	4	6
T. Cook	10	1*	2	6
M. Skinner	7	1	6	6
T. Bodine	5	1*	2	4
J. Wood	4	1*	2	4
S. Compton	3	1	1	1
E. Darnell	2	1*	1	1

* Kansas Speedway win

Crafton scored a 10th-place finish last season, but prior to that finished 27th and 20th in 2005 and 2006, respectively. He has a Driver Rating of 76.2 (16th) and an Average Running Position of 14.2 (11th) in the past three races. On the bright side, Crafton is second in Quality Passes (passes of cars in the top 15 under green) with 86.

Setzer, who has the hot hand after his victory at Martinsville, scored top-three runs from 2001-03, but hasn't finished in the top 10 since. His worst Kansas finish (26th) came last season. Since 2005, Setzer has a Driver Rating of 82.8 (12th) and an Average Running Position of 15.4 (13th).

Sunflower State winners: Eight at Kansas

The Craftsman Truck Series has staged 12 events in the state of Kansas beginning in 1995 with five road races at Heartland Park Topeka. Kansas Speedway joined the schedule in 2001.

Eight of 11 Kansas winners are expected to compete in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 including all of the competitors who visited Victory Lane at HPT.

Interestingly, no driver has been able to double up even though three of those winners -- Ron Hornaday (No. 33 Chevrolet), Jack Sprague (No. 2 Chevrolet) and Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota) -- are ranked 1-2-3 in series victories.

Hornaday is the only double Kansas winner, scoring victories at HPT in the track's 1995 inaugural and its 1999 finale.

Craftsman Truck Series: Etc.

• If this year's rookie class is looking for a level playing field, Kansas Speedway fills the bill. None of the seven candidates has competed in a Truck Series race at the 1.5-mile speedway.

Still, Justin Marks (No. 9 Toyota) won the pole for last year's ARCA Re/Max Series event. Phillip McGilton (No. 22 Toyota) was ninth in ARCA's 2006 event. Marc Mitchell also has ARCA experience there.

• Colin Braun (No. 6 Ford) will be in Arizona on Saturday to cheer for his uncle Cole, who is competing an Ironman competition -- a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run. Then it's off to Kansas Speedway for a media event and the Nationwide Series Corona Mexico 200 on April 20.

• Keep'n It Reel, manufacturer of outdoors apparel, becomes the official apparel provider of Key Motorsports, which fields the No. 40 Chevrolet of driver Chad Chaffin.