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 But his escape from misfortune proved short lived -- until, again,
Iowa.
Jones entered Friday night's American Ethanol 200 winless in eight
2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts and stung by
back-to-back finishes of 23rd and 15th.
He left the track pumping his fists after a victory.
The talented 19-year-old driver led 112 laps and dominated most of
the race en route to his fifth career series victory.
"We've had fast trucks," Jones said. "Things just haven't been
happening. Just kept fighting the good fight and waited for it to
come around."
Jones finished 5.661 seconds ahead of runner-up Brandon Jones.
Tyler Reddick took third, Matt Crafton was fourth and Christopher
Bell -- in his first career start -- completed the top five. Crafton
retained his points lead by 12 over Reddick. Jones stands third, 26
points behind Crafton.
"I think we've had speed all year long, honestly," said Brandon
Jones, whose teammate, Spencer Gallagher, secured a career-high
second last weekend at Gateway Motorsports Park. "It's just starting
to come around for us."
Bell started 10th and the former USAC national midget champion
hadn't raced on pavement until eptember.
"I just had one expectation and goal and that was just to finish the
race," Bell said. "I really didn't know what to expect, so to come
out with a top five, I'm just thrilled about it."
A different type of excitement pulsed through Jones, who earlier
Friday became the series' youngest pole winner at Iowa at 19 years,
20 days.
He led the first 43 laps and slipped back to ninth after a lap 53
restart but patiently threaded to third by lap 98.
Jones retook the lead for good on lap 128, surging by Crafton on
another restart and within 15 laps had built a 1.5-second advantage.
Crafton led 33 laps. Teammates Johnny Sauter and Cameron Hayley led
14 and 37 laps, respectively, before mechanical issues took them off
the pace.
Jones finally evaded a similar setback.
"This one's just enjoyment now," Jones said. "We're back in the
swing of things. I guess the last month was just stressful all
around. Stressful on me as a person. ... I kind of came to realize
it doesn't come as easy as everybody thinks it does. I had a lot of
success early on and definitely got into kind of a hard spot."
Make that hard spots.
His win last season at Iowa's fast, short track ignited a
much-needed hot streak that followed a 23rd-place finish at Gateway.
Deja vu?
"It's really similar," Jones said. "Last year, we really kind of
came off the same beginning to the season to this point and went
here and kind of turned everything around.
"So I would say our luck or whatever you want to call it was worse
this year at the beginning of the year than it was last year but
definitely a similar feel in getting back to Victory Lane here and
getting things going in the right direction."
It worked last year.
Jones closed out the 2014 Camping World Trucks season with two more
wins and posted at least a top-seven finish in seven of the final
eight races.
And while it's doubtful 2015 will fully mirror 2014, Jones offered a
confident prediction.
"It took us awhile to get here, but now that we're here, I think
we'll keep reeling a few off," he said.
[to top of second column] |
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race - American Ethanol 200
Iowa Speedway
Newton, Iowa
Friday, June 19, 2015
1. (1) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 200, $48421.
2. (4) Brandon Jones #, Chevrolet, 200, $29147.
3. (3) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 200, $27459.
4. (9) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 200, $21600.
5. (10) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 200, $18646.
6. (16) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 200, $16562.
7. (14) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 200, $16006.
8. (13) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 200, $15757.
9. (7) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 200, $15701.
10. (12) John Wes Townley, Chevrolet, 200, $16596.
11. (11) Justin Boston, Toyota, 200, $15591.
12. (18) Austin Theriault #, Ford, 200, $15451.
13. (8) Ben Kennedy, Toyota, 200, $15396.
14. (6) Caleb Holman, Chevrolet, 200, $13090.
15. (23) Ray Black Jr. #, Chevrolet, 199, $15801.
16. (17) Mason Mingus, Chevrolet, 199, $15062.
17. (20) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 198, $14952.
18. (22) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 198, $14813.
19. (5) Cameron Hayley #, Toyota, 198, $14702.
20. (19) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 197, $13897.
21. (27) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 196, $13230.
22. (26) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 193, $12119.
23. (2) John H. Nemechek #, Chevrolet, Accident, 157, $11980.
24. (21) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, Drive Shaft, 148, $11897.
25. (29) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Oil Leak, 93, $12019.
26. (25) Korbin Forrister #, Chevrolet, Engine, 65, $11841.
27. (15) Jake Griffin, Chevrolet, Accident, 41, $11786.
28. (30) Tommy Regan, Chevrolet, Electrical, 33, $11539.
29. (28) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, Suspension, 24, $11511.
30. (31) Michael Affarano(i), Chevrolet, Vibration, 22, $11011
31. (24) Justin Jennings, Chevrolet, Electrical, 15, $9511.
32. (32) Caleb Roark, Chevrolet, Vibration, 5, $8511.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 96.73 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 48 Mins, 33 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 5.860 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 36 laps.
Lead Changes: 6 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: E. Jones # 1-43; J. Sauter 44-57; C. Hayley # 58-94; M.
Crafton 95-127; E. Jones # 128-152; B. Jones # 153-156; E. Jones #
157-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): E. Jones # 3 times
for 112 laps; C. Hayley # 1 time for 37 laps; M. Crafton 1 time for
33 laps; J. Sauter 1 time for 14 laps; B. Jones # 1 time for 4 laps.
Top 10 in Points: M. Crafton - 370; T. Reddick - 358; E. Jones # -
344; J. Sauter - 327; J. Townley - 294; S. Gallagher - 288; T.
Peters - 283; D. Hemric # - 282; C. Hayley # - 280; B. Kennedy -
269.
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