Defending series champ Crafton feels less pressure

"I feel a ton less pressure on me," said Crafton, a two-time winner this season. "There is not one sleepless night that I've worried about if we're going to win this championship, how can we screw this thing up, how can we lose this thing. Last year every two hours I'd wake up from about midseason on, but now if it's meant to be it will be. It's all about having fast trucks and we've had some very, very fast race trucks this year. That starts with Junior (Carl Joiner, crew chief) and every one of the guys from there on down at the shop."

Crafton, who's been adamant in keeping mum about points or clinch scenarios, will need to finish 21st or better to become the only back-to-back champion in the series' 20-year history in Friday night's Ford EcoBoost 200 (8 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1) at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Ryan Blaney, the only challenger with a mathematical shot at the championship, needs to couple a victory in the season finale with a disastrous finish from Crafton, something that's been a rarity this year.

The 38-year-old Crafton has posted similar stats this season vs. 2013, but in some regards the performance from his ThorSport Racing team has been even stronger. Crafton has two wins this year versus one last season, has led more laps (298 vs. 87) and has more top-five finishes (13 vs. 7).

The increase has done wonders for Crafton's confidence, to say nothing of his sleeping patterns.

"I think Matt hit the nail on the head when he said last year that we don't want to be the boneheads to lose a 50-point lead," Joiner said. "We just did everything right and made sure that we showed up with something strong and Matt did it best. We didn't turn a fifth-place truck into a third-place, we took our fifth and we went home and worked on it the next week. When we finished seventh or eighth, same thing stood. He didn't put himself in a position to be the boneheads and lose 50 points.

"This year I feel like from a manufacturer's standpoint, we are a lot closer now. I feel like we are showcasing a lot more speed because we've done our homework over the winter and we've built fast trucks."

At 20 years, 10 months and 14 days of age on Friday, Blaney stands to become the youngest champion in series history. Though he remains a long shot, a breakthrough title would be a special parting gift to his Brad Keselowski Racing team; he'll compete full-time in the NASCAR XFINITY Series next season and will run a partial schedule with the Wood Brothers team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

"Even if we don't win the championship, it's been a great year," Blaney said. "I'd be more disappointed if we came here with the lead and then lose it, then you're really disappointed. We have to be realistic about our goals; we're 25 points back and he has to have some problems. If we don't win the championship, I'm going to do the best I can to win the race and that's what I'm gunning for."

Two other important races remain in limbo heading into the Homestead finale. The Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 Toyota -- with driving duties split this season between the owner/driver and teen phenom Erik Jones -- holds an 18-point edge over the ThorSport No. 88 in the team owner standings. In the Sunoco Rookie of the Year contest, 22-year-old Ben Kennedy carries a slim three-point advantage over Tyler Reddick, 18, into the season-ending 200-miler.

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