Erik Jones wins NASCAR’s Truck series title

Erik Jones needed only to finish 15th or better in Friday’s Ford EcoBoost 200 to clinch NASCAR’s Truck series championship.

Jones did better than at, using his substantial cushion in the standings to finish sixth and win the title in his rookie season by 15 points over Tyler Reddick. At 19, Jones is the youngest champion in Truck series history.

Jones’ victory overshadowed two-time defending champion Matt Crafton, who won the race by 2.9 seconds ahead of Mooresville teenager John Hunter Nemechek.

Jones, racing for Kyle Busch Motorsports, won three races this season, including two weeks ago at Texas, when he was able to put more distance between himself and Reddick and Crafton.

“A lot of this was being with a great team like Kyle Busch Motorsports,” said Jones. “There were times this season when I didn’t think we could do this.”

Jones, from the small town of Byron, Mich., was consistent all season with nine top-10 finishes.

Turning point

Crafton took the lead from Christopher Bell on Lap 89 and didn’t trail after that. He would lead for 93 of 134 laps.

Three who mattered

Erik Jones: Jones wins the Truck championship in his rookie season with a sixth-place finish.

Matt Crafton: Six victories weren’t enough for Crafton to overtake Jones for what would have been a third consecutive championship.

Tyler Reddick: Finished third Friday and was runner-up behind Jones for the championship. Had two victories – the season opener at Daytona and later at Dover.

Observations

▪ Jones sure seems like a star of the future in NASCAR and has also run Xfinity and Cup races this season. But he’s still not been afforded all the perks of being a big-time NASCAR driver. He was spotted a few weeks ago standing at the baggage carousel at the Kansas City airport.

▪ Daniel Suarez was leading the race on Lap 62 when he lost control and slid into Dexter Stacey. That damaged Suarez’s truck enough that he had to leave the race a few laps after the restart.

▪ It is Kyle Busch Motorsports’ first drivers championship in the team’s six years of existence.

They said it

“You couldn’t ask for a better ending than this.” – Erik Jones

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 10:39 PM with the headline "Erik Jones wins NASCAR’s Truck series title."