Always in the hunt but rarely in front, Matt Crafton finds himself in a pretty unusual spot two races into the 2011 Camping World Truck Series season.

Crafton, or "Mr. Consistency" as he could be appropriately called, is atop the series standings.

"There's nobody more hungry than me, I feel, to win races. But at the same time ... The points, we've got to think of that."

--MATT CRAFTON

Not that he's exactly ready to revel in his newfound position.

"I don't put a whole lot into it," Crafton said as he prepares for Saturday's Too Tough to Tame 200 at Darlington Raceway.

* By the Numbers: Old guard at Darlington | Tickets

"It's our second race into it, but what I've been saying is that with 10 to go, five races to go, then we'll talk about it if we're leading the points at that point."

One of the reasons Crafton isn't celebrating his fast start is the fact that he's been good but not great in the first two races of 2011.

He finished 10th at Daytona and seventh two weeks ago in Phoenix but failed to lead a lap in either event. His series lead is just one point over second-place Clay Rogers and five points over fifth-place Timothy Peters.

Crafton, a veteran of 249 Truck starts, knows it's too early to get too confident with or without a big cushion. At the same time, he's thankful to be where he is -- especially after an uncharacteristically slow start to 2010 that all but eliminated him from title contention. Nine races into that campaign, he was 10th in points with an average finish of 14.8.

"At least we aren't digging ourselves out of a hole after two races in," said Crafton, in his 11th full season in the Truck Series, including 10 with Sandusky, Ohio-based ThorSport Racing. "That's one of the big positives.

"It's definitely nice to be chased instead of chasing, for sure."

Crafton has ranked among the top 10 in points for a remarkable 74 consecutive races, and finished outside the top 10 in points only once since 2004. However, he has just one victory -- at Charlotte in May 2008 -- along the way.

While returning to Victory Lane is a priority this year, he makes no apologies for an approach that some observers might deem as too conservative.

"There's nobody more hungry than me, I feel, to win races," Crafton said. "But at the same time I try to pride myself in not tearing up the equipment. I've known what it's like to have to work on it, to rebuild it, and at the end of the day I've always said if you can't win that battle, let's win the war. The points, we've got to think of that."

Crafton would seem to have at least a decent shot of leaving Darlington with his series lead intact. He finished sixth last year at the 1.366-mile venue, and likely would have come out better had it not been for a pit stop that dropped him in the running order.

Slow pit stops also proved to be a problem at Phoenix last time out.

"Track position is everything," Crafton said. "There's no reason why we can't contend for wins every week and contend for the championship."

So far, so good -- at least on the championship-contending part.