AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Matt Crafton’s most cherished photograph from an extraordinary decades-long NASCAR career captures two of his great treasures – his daughter Elladee and the first of his three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship trophies.
The grin on Crafton’s face as he gazes adoringly at his 7-month-old daughter positioned inside the nearly three-foot-tall 2013 trophy is unmistakable, the pride palpable.
“It was the best," said Crafton, who is relinquishing his full-time seat in the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford at the end of the season after 25 years of competition in the series.
The “best” is saying a lot for the 49-year-old three-time Truck Series champion.
What started as invaluable bonding time with his father, Danny, a hard-nosed racer in the sport’s early California heydays, developed into a celebrated career for Crafton, who has skillfully navigated and mastered the series for more than two decades — era after era after era.
Crafton is the only driver in series history to claim back-to-back titles (2013-14) and he answered that historic showing with a third trophy in 2019, proving himself in multiple championship formats. Not bad for a no-excuses competitor who, after growing up working on cars in his father’s shop in the 1980s, essentially started his career filling in behind the wheel for his dad in NASCAR’s Southwest Series.
The time spent working on and racing cars with his dad Danny shaped much of Crafton’s approach to the sport and nearly 30 years after his first NASCAR Regional Series start, he leaves full-time competition following Friday night’s 2025 Craftsman Truck Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) — highly accomplished and highly respected.
The work ethic Crafton learned from his father, both on the track and off it, is what he says made all the motivational difference.
[caption id="attachment_493858" align="aligncenter" width="1300"]“I haven’t had it handed to me, I had to work for it," Crafton said of his success. “I don’t know how many times I’ve been brought into the NASCAR trailer and told to calm down and not cuss on the radio and not rant and rave. I always told them, the day I don’t do that is the day I need to quit.
“If you go back and look at Kevin Harvick or Kurt and Kyle Busch or Tony Stewart or Dale Earnhardt, everybody who has had to work for it from the grassroots, to fight and claw, you’re naturally going to carry more emotion."
That intensity has always been evident in Crafton’s career – especially noted by those he raced door-to-door with and appreciated by the “next generation” of competitors who are quick to emphasize what Crafton has meant to the sport and to the Craftsman Truck Series, in particular.
“I’m just grateful that Matt invested so much of his life into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and its veterans like him that make the Truck Series credible," said Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, who raced against Crafton in the trucks and had to beat the veteran to claim his 2017 title.
“He helped hold young drivers accountable, myself included," Bell continued. “He’s a veteran and you need people like that in those series and I have a ton of respect for him and what he’s done. He raced everybody hard, that's for sure, but it’s that level of accountability that made you better.”
The 2023 Cup Series champion, Ryan Blaney, also credits Crafton with teaching him valuable lessons when they raced trucks against one another. He finished runner-up to Crafton in 2014 as a 20-year-old.
“Both years I was in the series, he won the championship and waxed our butts," Blaney said with a smile. “We ran second to him in 2014. It was cool to run around Matt. And now having the Menards (sponsorship) connection is pretty neat.
“It will be different not seeing him on TV when I watch those races (next year), but it was a pleasure to race with Matt. We always raced well together. He was one of those guys I felt open to talking to when I was a rookie or second year in trucks because he was a veteran and had a big part in the Truck Series.
“He’s a great competitor and it was cool getting to know him. The only unfortunate part was he kicked my butt the two years I was in the trucks.”
It’s the kind of old-school philosophy and head-down work ethic that has served Crafton well during his 25 years full-time in the series. His 591 starts – 590 of them consecutively — is a series record unlikely to ever be broken.
He has 15 victories and his 333 top-10 finishes, which means that he finished among the top 10 in more than half his starts. He earned 135 top-five finishes — 23% of the races he ran. And Crafton has 16 pole positions for good measure.
[caption id="attachment_493845" align="alignleft" width="640"]It is, however, his ability to rise to the top against different talent, title formats and truck configurations that will always make Crafton a series icon.
It’s heralded by fans and deeply appreciated by the multi-championship ThorSport organization, where he competed for all but one season. His legacy for the team is not just the titles he earned but the lessons in competition he shared with teammates that helped them to titles, too.
“Everybody needs to know that Matt Crafton has always been a really, really fierce competitor and he’s wise in the truck," said Crafton’s two-time champion ThorSport teammate Ben Rhodes. “He never pushes the envelope too far to wreck. He’s so wise with that. There’s a lot to learn from him with his risk management style with his ability to try to out-smart the competition. Early on when I was a young guy and wrecking everything, I really looked to his ability to manage risks as a veteran and a lot of people could learn from that.
“You have to finish the race first to win it and I don’t think a lot of people give him that. I’d say people don’t give him enough credit on that. But he’s a fierce competitor and always has been.
“'Race smarter not harder,' he always said that to me," Rhodes said, smiling. “And he was right.”
Longtime ThorSport employee Edgar Riley remembers receiving a call from Crafton in 2002 asking if Riley would like to come back to work at ThorSport as a tire specialist with the team – a chance Riley couldn’t pass up. And he remains forever grateful to Crafton for opening that important career door.
“Matt gave me that opportunity," said Riley, who worked as Crafton’s front tire carrier from 2002-2011. “We shared so many great memories together, including two wins, one being his very first. I’ll always be grateful for what Matt has done for me and for this organization throughout his full-time career."
That appreciation – from competitor to teammate - is widespread in the garage. And reciprocated.
Crafton, who intends to make some one-off starts down the road and refuses to call this a retirement, doesn’t give his impending Hall of Fame consideration much thought. Yet. But he smiles thinking about joining so many of his racing heroes there one day – those like Ron Hornaday Jr., who he considers the “toughest” competitor of his career.
Reflecting on his career, Crafton concedes it has been quite a drive – from humble beginnings to championship form. He’s respected by his competitors and admired by his fans — the ultimate career ride for this champion.
“Let the cards fall and we’ll see what happens," Crafton said of the Hall of Fame mentions. “Just happy to do what I get to do and happy to do what I’ve done."
“Not many people can say they got to do what they love to do," he acknowledges. “I’ve been blessed to do what I get to do."