NASCAR Truck Series at Homestead-Miami 2014 Results: Winner, Standings, More

Matt Crafton is officially your 2014 Truck Series champion.

The No. 88 truck managed only a ninth-place finish during Friday night's Ford EcoBoost 200, but that was more than enough for Crafton to secure the points title. It's the first time a driver has repeated as Truck Series champ, per Fox Sports:

Entering the final race of the season, Crafton owned a 25-point lead on Ryan Blaney, who was the only other driver with a realistic chance of winning the championship at this stage. Crafton wasn't assured of the championship, but he didn't need to do much in order to secure it.

By holding such a comfortable lead, some drivers could fall into the trap of taking his or her foot off the gas—pun intended—and making things much tougher than they should be.

NASCAR Trucks pointed out that Crafton needed a 21st-place finish or higher to win:

Crafton said before the race that he wouldn't approach Friday night any differently than he had any other race, per Fox Sports' Jared Turner:

"

It's something I haven't thought about, something I don't really put a lot of thought into. Me and Junior (Joiner, crew chief) at the beginning of the year, we talked, and we went into this year with a little bit different mindset -- to see how many laps we can lead. We do that every year, but at the same time, let's not worry about points. Let's not points race. I said, at Homestead let's see where we end up, and that's what we've done every race this year, and that's all we're doing.

"

Blaney admittedly made it much easier for Crafton. The No. 29 truck never led a lap, thus never presenting himself as much of a threat to steal the title. Sporting News' Bob Pockrass also reported that Blaney had trouble with his shifter, which only added to his misery:

Blaney ended up in fifth place, but all he could do was close the gap on Crafton rather than overtake him.

Here's how the points standings shook out:

Pos.	Driver	Points
1	Matt Crafton	833
2	Ryan Blaney	812
3	Darrell Wallace Jr.	799
4	Johnny Sauter	773
5	Timothy Peters	746
6	German Quiroga Jr	683
7	Joey Coulter	680
8	Jeb Burton	679
9	Ben Kennedy	679
10	Bryan Silas	548

The actual race itself served as a backdrop for Crafton's second consecutive title, which is a bit of a shame, because Darrell Wallace Jr. and Kyle Larson had an enthralling battle in the last 10 or so laps to decide the winner. A lapped truck nearly cost Wallace the victory, as he surrendered the lead, but he quickly overtook Larson again and held him off over the final stretch.

Crafton's title celebration didn't put a damper on Wallace's fun, as he enjoyed every minute of his trip to Victory Lane, per Nick DeGroot of Motorsport.com:

You can see the top 10 from Friday below.

Pos.	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps Led
1	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Toyota	14
2	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	96
3	Timothy Peters	Toyota	0
4	Kyle Busch	Toyota	6
5	Ryan Blaney	Ford	0
6	Tyler Reddick	Ford	0
7	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	0
8	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	0
9	Matt Crafton	Toyota	0
10	Johnny Sauter	Toyota	0

While Wallace couldn't overtake Crafton on the final day, his strong finish to the season—two wins and three top-10s in four races—will be a great springboard for 2015, whether it's in the Truck Series or in the newly christened Xfinity Series. Wallace has made it known that he'd like to make the step up.

Kyle Busch said after the race that Wallace will likely run a part-time schedule in the Xfinity Series at the very least, per Kelly Crandall:

Much is dependent on sponsorship dollars, which NASCAR spotter Brett Griffin sees as an indictment of the sport as a whole:

Meanwhile, Crafton will look to defend his Truck Series crown when next season rolls around. With every points title triumph, the bull's-eye on his back grows. More drivers will look to knock him off his throne.

This year's shown, though, that Crafton isn't one to rest on his laurels. He'll celebrate his back-to-back championship wins for a while, but when the green flag drops for 2015, all of the pomp and circumstance will be pushed to the background.