Crafton takes the Truck Series lead to Milwaukee

Despite his inexperience as the front runner in the Camping World Truck Series, Matt Crafton is not allowing his No. 1 status to enter his thoughts going into the Copart 200 on Friday night at the Milwaukee Mile.

"I'm racing [Milwaukee] just like it was my first race this year," Crafton said. "I'm out there to run up front, to win races and collect the most points at the end of the day. Everybody made a lot more out of me leading the points than I have.

"I've won championships in other things that I've raced, and if you sit there and put it in your head and worry about it, you're going to beat yourself. You just have to go out there and do what you're paid to do and drive and win races."

• Purchase Tickets

Crafton, in his ninth full season in the series, took the lead two races ago at Texas and extended it to 39 points in front of Ron Hornaday by finishing fourth at Michigan. Crafton has been sixth or better in the past four races and leads the series with eight top-10s in nine races. Crafton's worst finish in 2009 is 11th.

Crafton should be strong at Milwaukee, too. He finished second last season, his first top-five in eight races at the legendary Mile.

Johnny Benson won the past three Milwaukee truck races, but he's not entered. The 2009 series champion lost his job when Red Horse Racing shut down the No. 1 team because of lack of sponsorship two weeks ago. Later in the week, he was injured in a supermodified race.

Hornaday has stayed close in the points despite three consecutive difficult races. Hornaday, who will celebrate his 51st birthday Saturday, went down a lap early at Michigan because of a tire going down and was involved in a multi-truck crash that damaged both ends of his truck. Hornaday salvaged a seventh-place finish. He finished 26th and 19th in the two previous races.

"We've had several weeks of bad luck, and each time [the team] never get down, they just battle back," Hornaday said.

Hornaday has seven top-fives at Milwaukee, including a victory in 1997, and has never finished worse than seventh in nine races.

"I grew up racing at flat mile tracks like Milwaukee, and I have a better feel for a track like this than I do at others," Hornaday said. "I have been lucky to stay out of trouble and be there when it mattered at the end. I have only won [Milwaukee] once, so I would really like to get another trophy for the mantle."

Terry Cook will make his 300th start in the series. Cook, second to Rick Crawford's 306 starts in the history of the series, is having a solid season, seventh in the points with three top-fives and five top-10s. He won at Milwaukee in 2002.

"This is a huge milestone for my career," Cook said. "Three hundred starts has been a wonderful ride; I can't wait to see how it continues."