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HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Neither the reigning two-time champion nor the plucky driver in his first full season took a spot on the big stage Friday night. But for Matt Crafton and Tyler Reddick, there was plenty of solace to go around.
Crafton and Reddick made the most of banner seasons in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series despite coming up short to newly crowned champion Erik Jones in Friday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Crafton netted the biggest consolation prize of all, a resounding victory in the Ford EcoBoost 200. Reddick, though stinging from a runner-up finish in the standings, found silver linings in the impact of a successful two-win season.
For Crafton and his ThorSport Racing No. 88 Toyota team, the championship torch was passed to a rookie driver 20 years his junior. But the Truck Series veteran savored his most prolific season in the win column with six victories, capped by Friday night’s romp at the 1.5-mile Homestead track, where he led 93 of 134 laps from the Keystone Light Pole position.
Crafton wound up third in the final series standings, 22 points behind Jones, but relished a year flush with dominance and laps led, doubling the amount of victories in both championship seasons combined.
“This year, I said these guys are unbelievable what they build these trucks up there in Sandusky, Ohio and what (team owners) Duke and Rhonda (Thorson) give us to be able to go out and win six races,” said Crafton, who led the standings from late March through late July. “I say it each and every race, I don’t worry about the points, and I haven’t worried about the points. The last five races, six races, I knew I was going to have to be that much more aggressive, and I was.”
Reddick kicked off his first full season in the Brad Keselowski Racing No. 19 Ford with a victory in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway. He added a win three months later at Dover, but lamented a handful of subpar finishes (19th at Mosport, 15th at New Hampshire) in the season’s second half that left him at a deficit in the series’ pecking order.
Reddick still ended up second in the standings, 15 points off the top and exceedingly close to the lofty goals he set for himself back in the winter.
“Going into this year, our standards were set very high,” Reddick said. “We wanted to win the championship and obviously a lot of people — I feel like a lot of people didn’t think we were capable of that. We didn’t end up being capable of it. As you see, we were runner-up. We were always very strong throughout the season. We were always right there. Unfortunately we were just a little too short there coming into Homestead to really mix it up in the last race.”