Crafton cruising towards championship repeat

 The 2013 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion reclaimed the top spot in the standings where he holds a five-point lead over ThorSport teammate Johnny Sauter.

He can further distance himself from the field with a strong showing in Saturday’s UNOH 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1 p.m. on FOX Sports 1) where the NCWTS returns after a two-year hiatus. With so many young drivers on the circuit, the 38 year old has the advantage of having 11 previous starts on the 1.058-mile oval and boasts two top-five and six top-10 finishes there.

“The [shorter] tracks are what I grew up on so I'm looking forward to the Truck Series getting back to Loudon,” Crafton said. “It's been [three] years since the trucks have raced there, but I've had some good runs there in the past; we even got our first pole there in 2005.”

If he can stay out front, Crafton will become the first back-to-back champion and the fourth multi-title winner since the series began in 1995. At the moment, Crafton doesn’t even have the points race on his mind, claiming he is only focused on winning events until the final race at Homestead.

“Homestead is going to be when we are going to worry about (the points race),” Crafton said. “We are going to go to each and every race trying to win, each and every darn race.”

NASCAR Wire Service