FANTASY NASCAR Racin

DUKE THORSON - 06-18-1960
THORSPORT RACING - an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team is based on Sandusky, Ohio. Owned by Duke Thorson and his wife Rhonda. The No. 88 truck was the first out of the ThorSport stable. Debuting in the 1996 season at the Milwaukee Mile, Terry Cook finished 12th in the race for the team, which was then known as Sealmaster Racing. He ran two additional races in the truck that season, but did not finish better than 21st. Cook drove a limited schedule with the team in 1997 in the PBA Tour Chevy. The team received enough funding to compete full-time in 1998, and Cook won his first career race at Flemington. ThorSport began the 1999 without primary sponsorship before Big Daddy's BBQ Sauce joined the operation late in the season, allowing Cook to finish 15th in points. In 2000, PickupTruck.com became the team's new sponsor, and Cook had a total of eight top-ten finishes, but was replaced in the final event of the season by Matt Crafton, who finished ninth. Fast Master Driveway Sealer and XE Sighting System shared sponsorship duties for Crafton, who picked up eleven top-tens and finished 12th in points in his rookie season. Despite Menards becoming a full-time sponsor in 2002, Crafton only had six top-tens and dropped to fifteenth in the standings, but improved to eleventh the following year. In 2004,

rookie Tracy Hines became the team's new driver, and he posted three top-ten finishes and finished eighteenth in points. The No. 13 truck began racing in 2004, with Tina Gordon driving with sponsorship from Vassarette and Microtel. After five races, she left the team due to injuries she suffered at Atlanta, and Lance Hooper and Paul White shared the ride for the next several races. Crafton returned to the 88 for 2005, winning his first career pole at New Hampshire International Speedway and finishing ninth in points, a team-best. For 2005, Tracy Hines drove the truck and had a fifth-place finish at Richmond

International Raceway with sponsorship from David Zoriki Motorsports. Crafton slipped to fourteenth in points in 2006 despite ten top-tens, and repeated his top-ten total in 2007, moving up to eighth in points. Kerry Earnhardt drove for ThorSport Racing during the 2006 season, his best finish being 11th which he recorded twice, at Nashville and Las Vegas. He was not retained for 2007 and rookie Willie Allen was signed to replace him. 2008 was the team's best year to that point, with Crafton scoring his first win at Charlotte and finishing fifth in points. Shelby Howard was brought on to drive the #13 truck; he posted one Top 5, and just two Top 10's. Despite not winning the next year, the #88 team finished

runner-up in points to Ron Hornaday, as Crafton drove the teams lone truck after Howard was released. Johnny Sauter raced for the team for the 2009 season full-time with sponsorship from Fun Sand. The team ran through a partnership with Mike Curb. Sauter took ThorSport's third win as a team at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and giving ThorSport its first ever 1–2 finish, with Crafton in second. Sauter would finish 6th in points at the end of the year. In 2010, Sauter took home his second win at Kansas after late contact with Ron Hornaday. Crafton had another strong season in 2010, earning one pole at Texas Motor Speedway, ten Top 5 and 20 Top 10 finishes, resulting in a season-ending rank of fourth. 2011 saw the second win of

Crafton's career at Iowa Speedway, in addition to poles at Michigan International Speedway and Martinsville Speedway, where he broke the track qualifying record. However, four DNFs (Did Not Finish) due to engine failures, mechanical issues and accidents caused by other competitors led to only five Top 5's and 13 Top 10's, ultimately relegating Crafton to eighth in the final standings. For 2011 Sauter's team gained sponsorship from Safe Auto Insurance Company. Sauter would score wins at Martinsville and Homestead, finishing second in points to Austin Dillon. 2012 saw Sauter have bad luck all season and the best he could muster was a ninth place finish in the points. In 2012, Crafton had a decent season, finishing 6th in points. Also in 2012 Dakota Armstrong was brought on to drive; but that deal only lasted 14 races and

the truck team was shut down. Todd Bodine took over as driver for the 2013 season replacing Sauter, placing 11th at Daytona International Speedway, with Mattei Air Compressors as the truck's new primary sponsor. However, the team was unable to find additional sponsorship and was forced to release Bodine after the seventh race before the team shut down. On the other hand Crafton had his best season in his career to date. He won his third career race at Kansas in April. After this win, Crafton picked up the points lead and held it for the rest of the season. He finished in the top ten in the first sixteen races of the season, and 19 overall, with a worst finish of 21st in the season finale at Homestead. He clinched his first Truck

Series championship with his start in that race, and was able to stay on the lead lap despite late crash damage to become the first driver to complete every lap of the season in the Truck Series. On March 30, 2014, Crafton scored his fourth career Truck win at Martinsville. On June 6, he won on fuel strategy at Texas Motor Speedway to win two races in a season for the first time in his career. It was also the first time he led more than 100 laps in a race. Despite crashing out at Dover and Gateway, his first DNFs in over two years, and dropping to 17 Top 10's, Crafton would ultimately go on to become the first back-to-back champion in the Truck Series. In 2014, Jeb Burton was hired to drive the No. 13. Initially running on a race-by-race basis pending sponsorship, Burton's ride was

upgraded to the full season when Estes Express Lines signed a deal with the team. However, the deal would not be extended to 2015, causing the team to release Burton, who subsequently signed with BK Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. Crafton would score his sixth career victory on February 28, 2015, in the Hyundai Construction Equipment 200, the revived Atlanta race. In May, he played fuel strategy to the win at Kansas, winning a second race at one track for the first time in his career. He scored two additional wins at Martinsville and the season finale at Homestead, but finished third in the points due to a few crashes. With Burton's departure from the #13 truck,

Cameron Haley was brought in to wheel the truck as he brought sponsorship from Cabinets By Haley. Haley returned to the truck in 2016. Crafton won twice more in 2016 and got edged out in the points chase as he finished second. 2016 also saw ThorSport add a third truck team as Ben Rhodes was brought in to drive the #41 truck. Haley did not return for 2017 and was replaced by Cody Coughlin. Crafton and Rhodes returned making a three truck team. Coughlin posted one Top 5 and three Top 10's while Crafton and Rhodes each won once and both finished in the Top 5 in points. For 2018 Thorsport will switch to fielding Fords; and Rhodes and Crafton will return; while Myatt Snider (son of broadcaster Marty Snider) will wheel the #13 truck and Grant Enfinger will drive the #98. ThorSport saw driver Cody Coughlin cut loose after the

2017 season. In his place they hired Myatt Snider. Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes remained from the previous season. Thorson field the three trucks on a full time basis, Although Rhodes was the only full time driver to get a win; all of the trucks were competitive. Chase Briscoe ran one race for ThorSport in 2018. The dirt ace was brought in to see if he could grab the win on the dirt at Eldora. Ben Rhodes ran well and led the first 26 laps and won the first stage. Briscoe would win stage two. It looked like Grant Enfinger would win the race but a late yellow saw the race length extended. On the green-white-checkered, Briscoe would get around Enfinger on the final lap to get the win.

Driver Matt Crafton had won at least one race the previous five seasons; including two Championships. However, this season Crafton would go win less. Rookie Myatt Snider had a decent season as he was able to have three finishes in the top five. He also had eight top tens. As an organization they drivers had a successful season. All three made the Chase and all finished inside the top ten in points. 2019 saw ThorSport Racing field a strong field of drivers. Johnny Sauter was surprisingly cut by Gallager Motorsports at seasons end. When he became available ThorSport jumped at the chance to add the past Truck Series Champion to their stable. This left Myatt Snider

without a full time ride. Sauter joined Matt Crafton, Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes who returned for 2019 in search of the Championship. Sauter grabbed a win early in the season at Dover to lock himself into the Chase early. Sauter also run afoul of NASCAR and drew their wrath at Iowa. Sauter had a minor dust up with Asutin Hill at Iowa; and Sauter retaliated under yellow; wrecked hill and damaged Hill's truck so as to not be competitive. As a result NASCAR parked Sauter for the remainder of the race and suspended him for the following race at gateway. Snider was brought in to fill the seat for that race. Meanwhile his team mates struggled to make the Chase

the hard way; by scratching and clawing and gaining every point they could each race, to try and make the Chase via points. None of the drivers were able to claim a win; with Enfinger posting ten Top 5's, while Rhodes and Crafton both managed to finish in the Top 5 on seven occasions. Rhodes other finishes wasn't good enough to see him make it into the Chase; but Enfinger and Crafton both advanced. The final race of the second round saw Enfinger, Crafton and Sauter all have their power plants fail within 40 laps of one another. Due to good his finishes earlier in the round, Crafton was the only one able to advance into the third round. He pointed his way through the final way to make the Championship race at Miami. The race only featured three yellow flags; with two of those being at the end of the stages. It ran green from lap 68 until the checkers at

lap 134. Austin Hill proved to have a very dominant truck and led 56 laps. Crafton's team had the truck's handling 'close' when the green dropped and the races three yellows kept the other teams from having a shot at making their trucks better. In the end Crafton finished second and won his third Truck series Championship. This made three Truck series Championships for ThorSports; all by Crafton. ThorSport had all their drivers return in 2020 in hopes of defending their 2019 Championship. Last years Champ; Matt Crafton; ran well and got a win at Kansas. The first win he had in three years. He ran will in the Chase; and even though he had finishes of eighth, sixth,

and fifth in the round before the Championship race; a win by Grant Enfinger eliminated him from running for the Championship. He ended up fifth in points. He did the best of the ThorSport drivers with one win, nine Top 5 and 15 Top 10 finishes. Ben Rhodes also had a good season. He got a win at Darlington late in the regular season. In the final round before the cut to the Championship race he had finishes of 20th at both Kansas and Texas. That left him in a must-win situation going to Martinsville. He finished second behind the winner Grant Enfinger. Rhodes had one win, nine Top 5 and 14 Top 10's while finishing seventh in points. Meanwhile Johnny Sauter

ended up having a miserable season. When the season started he posted top ten finishes in five of the first seven races. Then his fortunes turned as he only had three Top 10 finishes the rest of the season. He didn't come close to making the Chase and ended up a disappointing 13th in points. The team fielded three full time trucks in 2021. Matt Crafton had five Top 5 finishes. He had a season’s best finish of second at Gateway. He made it all the way to the Championship race of the Chase. But his truck wasn’t fast enough to be competitive and he finished 12th in the race and fourth in the season points. Team mate Ben Rhodes had a pretty good season. He got two wins, and they would be the first two races of the season. He had

three second place finishes and eight Top 5 and 16 Top 10’s in the 22 race season. He also made it all the way to the Championship race. Sheldon Creed, Stewart Friesen, and Chandler Smith had the best trucks in the race. In fact they led all 150 laps in the race. Lucky for Rhodes; none of them were eligible to win the Championship, so his third place finish was good enough for he to be the season Champion. Johnny Sauter has a season much like the year before. Five Top 5 and eight Top 10 finishes, and no where close to making the playoffs. As in past years, ThorSport Racing would field Toyota's for their three drivers: Matt Crafton, Ty Majeski, and Ben Rhodes. However; they would change makes at the end of the year; more on that later.

Crafton had a second consecutive year where he went winless. In fact, he only had two top five finishes, after Carl Joiner was replaced as his crew chief. He did have 12 top ten finishes; but the truck just didn't have the speed of his team mates. Crafton barely made the Chase; but was eliminated early and finished ninth in points. Ben Rhodes was back in 2022, looking to defend the truck championship he had won the previous season. Rhodes would only win one race; that coming at Bristol on the dirt. His season started off great. In the first six races, he finished no worse then fifth except for when he crashed at

Las Vegas. He had a second place finish at Daytona as the season opened, and another at Atlanta. As the season went on he added more second place finishes: IRP, Talladega and Phoenix. He made it through each round of the Chase; heading into Phoenix in the final four with a chance to defend his title. But Zane Smith would manage to hold off Rhodes by 2/10 of a second to claim the crown. Ty Majeski would start on the pole for the opening race at Daytona; ran a good race and finished second. He had a tenth at Las Vegas; followed by a third at Atlanta. He finished outside the top ten for the next three races; but followed that up with three straight top fives. After a 32nd place at Gateway; Majeski's team seemed to click. Over the next nine races, he had a worst finish of 12th; had eight top tens, and five top fives, including a win at Bristol. He won again at Homestead and had momentum heading into the season final races at Phoenix. He ran competitive

but got caught up in an accident for the races final yellow. He and Zane Smith got together; but Smith was able to continue on, while Majeski received damage. He finish 20th in the race and fourth in season points. After the season ended ThorSport decided to switch from racing Toyotas to racing the Ford name plate. Crafton returned to drive the #88 and Rhodes in the #99. ThorSport saw Hailie Deegan come on board to drive their trucks full time after leaving TRICON Garage. Unfortunately even though she was with a proven winning team, her results were the same as the previous year. Her stay at ThorSport would be short however. She made one start in the Xfinity series in 2023, and was very impressive. It came at Las Vegas driving for owner Bobby Dotter. She started 20th; ran near

the top ten all day and eventually ended up finishing 13th. She will be leaving the Truck series in 2024 to drive full time in the Xfinity series for AM Racing. Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes ran the other two trucks full time. Crafton again had an off year as he was only able to gather two top five finishes. Crafton pointed his way into the Chase for the championship, but was eliminated before the Round of 8. Rhodes had the best season of all ThorSports drivers as he had one win, but had seven top five and 14 top ten finishes. He made it to the championship race at Phoenix to compete for the Truck series title. Grant Enfinger, Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar also made the finals. Heim and Hocevar had the best trucks all night; but late in the race they got into a battle and took each other out. That left just Rhodes and Enfinger to battle for the Championship. When the checkered flag flew, Rhodes finished fifth, and just edged out Enfinger who was sixth. This would be the fifth Truck series championship for ThorSport. Two with Rhodes and three with Crafton.