For Matt Crafton, the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season promises to be more of the same—and simultaneously a season of change.
As Crafton begins his quest for a fourth series championship in Friday night’s NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), he’ll be starting his 21st consecutive full-time season in a NASCAR truck and his 20th with ThorSport Racing.
This year, however, ThorSport is leaving Ford, which carried Crafton to his third series title in 2016, and returning to Toyota. Crafton won back-to-back titles in the No. 88 Toyota in 2013 and 2014.
“I was a very big supporter of going back to Toyota,” said Crafton, who has finished in the top eight in the Truck Series for 14 straight seasons. “The whole Toyota Racing family and TRD and the tools that they give you are unreal.
“That’s why we were as successful as we were in the past, and I think that we can get back to those winning ways and win some more championships. I’m ecstatic about working with them again.”
A fourth title would tie Crafton for the series record with NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr., who won championships in 1996, 1998, 2007 and 2009. But some of Crafton’s stiffest competition may come from his teammates—2016 series champion Johnny Sauter and Ben Rhodes, who is looking for a breakout season after finishing seventh in last year’s final standings.
The three ThorSport drivers also will have to contend with John Hunter Nemechek, who left his full-time NASCAR Cup Series ride with Front Row Motorsports to run for the Truck Series championship with Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Source: Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service
