Matt Crafton's steady decline may culminate in driver missing playoffs for first time

They say Father Time comes for us all, but it seems to be getting a particular bead on NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Matt Crafton.

Crafton, 48, is a three-time Truck Series champion in his 24th full-time season competition. With 15 race wins to line his trophy case alongside his three titles, he'll likely be in consideration for the NASCAR Hall of Fame when he is eligible.

However, the Tulare, California native may soon face a difficult decision. A sharp downturn in performance in 2024 — including the continuation of a winless streak that dates back to July of 2020 — may culminate in Crafton missing the Truck Series playoffs for the first time since the Series adopted NASCAR's playoff format in 2016.

Fresh off back-to-back championship rings in 2013 and 2014 , Crafton won six races in 2015. The new playoff format was seen as a primitive obstruction for Crafton, who would make the Championship Four in 2016 and 2017.

In 2019 , Crafton had one of the strangest seasons in NASCAR history. In a playoff format that prioritizes winning races over all else, Crafton won the 2019 Truck Series championship with a second-place finish in the season finale at Homestead-Miami, making him the first winless champion of the playoff era.

As celebratory champagne dotted the skies of South Florida, the winless nature of Crafton's third championship season would begin to mean a lot more.

Crafton notched a win at Kansas in July 2020 and missed out on his fourth appearance in the Championship Four. In 2021, he returned to the Truck Series championship race but came home fourth of the four championship competitors, forced to once more mark a zero in the win column.

In 2022 and 2023, Crafton looked like an aging veteran simply going through the motions. While he made the Truck Series playoffs in both years, he was bounced in the first round twice, and he wasn't getting anywhere closer to that elusive victory, either.

2024 has seen Crafton fall even further. He's in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in his career. If he were not included in the 10-driver playoff field, it'd be his first point finish outside the top nine since 2006.

Praised for his consistency in 2019 with an average finish of 8.8, Crafton's average finish has steadily dipped every year since: 10.7 in 2020, 11.5 in 2021, 13.2 in 2022 and 13.9 in 2023. Those numbers aren't bad, but his 16.1 average finish through the first half of 2024 explains his precarious situation.

At the end of the day, Crafton seems to be facing an issue faced by plenty of legendary drivers: He's simply getting older and isn't anywhere close to the driver he once was. Whether it be Richard Petty, Jimmie Johnson or the Labonte brothers of Terry and Bobby, Crafton isn't the only former champion to see a massive drop-off in performance. It's entirely possible — likely, even — that Kansas will be known as the site of Crafton's final win.

Whether or not Crafton makes the 2024 playoffs shouldn't be weighed when his overall legacy is discussed, but it certainly proves that it's getting closer and closer to time for the Truck Series legend to hang up the helmet.