NASCAR Truck Series at Charlotte 2016 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

Matt Crafton took the checkered flag at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series' NC Education Lottery 200 from Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday.   

He had to wait longer than anticipated, as the race was originally set for Friday, but weather postponed the festivities. 

Here are the full race results:

Place	Driver
1	Matt Crafton
2	Kyle Busch
3	Johnny Sauter
4	Tyler Reddick
5	Matt Tifft
6	Spencer Gallagher
7	Timothy Peters
8	Christopher Bell
9	Daniel Hemric
10	William Byron
11	Brandon Jones
12	John Hunter Nemechek
13	Cole Custer
14	Ben Kennedy
15	Cameron Hayley
16	John Wes Townley
17	Ben Rhodes
18	Parker Kligerman
19	Tyler Young
20	Rico Abreu
21	Austin Self
22	Ryan Truex
23	Daniel Suarez
24	Jordan Anderson
25	Tommy Joe Martins
26	Brandon Brown
27	Bobby Pierce
28	Jennifer Jo Cobb
29	Garrett Smithley
30	Travis Kvapil
31	Timmy Hill
32	Andy Seuss

This is what the top of the standings look like now after six races in the books:

Place	Driver	Points
1	Matt Crafton	161
2	Timothy Peters	149
3	Daniel Hemric	144
4	Spencer Gallagher	139
5	William Byron	135
6	Ryan Truex	129
7	John Hunter Nemechek	127
8	Tyler Reddick	125
9	Christopher Bell	124
10	Johnny Sauter	120

The win was Crafton's second in as many weeks after his triumph at Dover and the 13th of his career. 

A two-time Truck Series champion, Crafton remained in first place in the standings as well while leading 47 of the race's 134 laps, most of any driver. 

However, he had to wait until late in the race to retake the lead after he lost it to Johnny Sauter. Fox Sports: NASCAR showed his pass with four laps to go:

Sauter finished the race in third, but once Crafton was back in front, it was smooth sailing for the 39-year-old. Fox Sports: NASCAR showed him wrap up the day:

It wasn't as straightforward behind him, as a pack of drivers were competing for the remaining top spots. Kyle Busch, who is better known for his driving in the Sprint Cup Series, finished in second place almost six seconds behind Crafton. 

Busch is usually a sure bet to win in the Truck Series at Charlotte. In the last four races he entered at the track, he had won.

While he was in contention for most of the race while leading 27 laps, he was forced to the back of the pack after he was penalized for an uncontrolled tire and couldn't overcome the deficit, via FS1:

Timothy Peters, who is 12 points behind Crafton in the driver standings, led 11 laps during the race to pick up some points on the afternoon, but he finished in seventh. Daniel Hemric finished ninth while leading 15 laps. 

Drivers in the Truck Series will now have a break that will last almost three weeks. The next race is at Texas Motor Speedway for the Rattlesnake 400. 

It's not that Crafton is in need of any more confidence after winning his last two races, but he's won the Rattlesnake 400 in each of the past two years. If he's able to pull off a third consecutive win, he can open up a comfortable lead in the driver standings early in the season. 

Post-Race Reaction

Crafton believed that this was a huge win for him against a driver like Busch who has had so much success at Charlotte in the Truck Series, via Jim Utter of Motorsport.com.

"He’s won a lot of races here and anybody who can beat Kyle Busch in one of these Truck races, you’re doing something," Crafton said. "And I definitely know that we beat him today."

It could have been a much different result had Busch not been penalized for that uncontrolled tire. He spoke with the media about his comeback efforts, via Utter.

"Once I got back in traffic, it just got super, super tight like it was laying on the splitter,” Busch said. “I don’t know if something came out of place, or what... I’m proud of the effort. We’ve got some work to do on this one to get it where we want to be. We’ve got to go back and do our homework.”

Unlike drivers just competing in the Truck Series, Busch will be racing a few more times in the next three weeks. First, he'll be competing in Sunday night's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, followed by the Coca Cola 600 on May 29 from Charlotte and Axalta 'We Paint Winners' 400 from Pocono on June 5.

Stats courtesy of NASCAR.com