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 The Motorsport Park's 2.5-miles of asphalt meanders through the
Ontario woods and is very unfamiliar territory for many of the young
drivers who hope to eventually find their way into the Sprint Cup
from NASCAR's equivalent of a double-A league. The track has only
been on the schedule for three years and Jones has been on it just
twice.
Last year, he started third and finished third. This year the
19-year-old arrived in the thick of the points race. On only the
second occasion he's raced on any kind of road circuit, what does
Jones do? He started on the front row and finished first by passing
Canadian road racing veteran Alex Tagliani with two laps to go.
Jones's second victory of the season and the sixth of his Truck
Series career put him into the points lead with eight races
remaining.
The key was clearing Tagliani on the race's final restart. That
meant outgunning him through the downhill Turn 1 and then beating
him to the crest of the hill at the blind, high-speed Turn 2, a left
hand corner.
"I knew we had to clear him in (Turn) 1 and if we didn't clear him
that (Turns) 2 and 3 were going to be tough and he was obviously
wanting to win bad," said Jones. "We raced hard and hopefully we put
on a good show. It was fun to be out there and have him chase you
down. It's nerve wracking and you're doing all you can and wondering
how he's finding speed in some corners and you're not. It's just
cool to see it play out like that and get the lead real late and be
able to hold it off and bring home the win."
The fresh-faced Jones honed his skills by following two schools of
road racing thought. One school is operated by former road racing
champion Ron Fellows, who also is now an owner at Canadian Tire
Motorsport Park. Jones also studied at the Bob Bondurant school for
road racers. There are "a couple of different mentalities between
the two schools and I just kind of merged together what I could pick
up," said Jones. "I saw it as if, 'Hey, if I can get a tenth each
time I go to those schools, it's worth it,' and I feel like I did.
Just kind of put all that together and came here for the first year
and downloaded everything and tried to get a little bit better for
this year and figure out where I needed to better and where I needed
to improve."
In the Xfinity Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course two
weeks ago, Tagliani was unceremoniously bumped out of the way two
corners from taking the checkered flag by winner Regan Smith. Jones
didn't have to resort to such tactics and instead found a way to
beat the Canadian road racer without contact.
Since Tagliani was starting on the pole and Jones second, the
Michigan native was asked in the post-qualifying media conference if
he would use bump-and-run tactics to get a victory. "I guess it's
all dependent on the situation. If we've raced each other hard and
clean all day then no," said Jones. "But if he roughs me up to get
by, then that's fair play I'd say. Like I said, it's situational.
No, if I was behind him for the last 10 laps and it came down to the
last corner, no, I probably wouldn't just drive into him and move
him out of the way. I've never won a race like that and honestly
don't intend to anytime soon."
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To get around Motorsport Park, drivers have to haul the mail in
their trucks. Tagliani, who lost fourth gear on the final lap and
finished fifth, won the pole with an average speed of 110.539 mph
through the track's 10 turns. Most of the truck series drivers
managed to get though the race without incident, although there were
five off track excursions that brought out full-course cautions.
Before this Canadian round was added to the schedule in 2013,
NASCAR's trucks had not raced on a road circuit since 2000 at
Watkins Glen International. But with increasingly stronger fan
response to Sprint Cup races at Sonoma, Calif. and Watkins Glen due
to the on track action, the sanctioning body now wants its youngest
drivers to learn how to shift, turn left and right early in their
careers.
That's fine with Jones.
"It's been a learning curve for sure from last year to this year and
trying to figure out how to better on a road course," said Jones,
who drives for Kyle Busch Motorsports. "I feel like I've done at
least my part of getting better as a driver on the road course and
the team has done their part as well getting the truck a little
better. It's a really good deal so far and I enjoy the road course
racing, so it's fun when we get to go here this part of the season."
Jones was not alone in his improvement. Matt Crafton, who has led
the points for much of the season, finished second.
It hardly spoils the party for either Jones or Crafton that Tyler
Reddick, the previous points leader, was among those who went off
course and suffered damage before resuming. Reddick finished 19th
and dropped to third in the points standings, 25 behind Jones, who
will move to the Xfinity Series next year.
Because this will be his last year running for a points title in
trucks, Toyota officials have made it clear they want Jones to win
the title this year. With eight races remaining, that's looking like
a good prospect for NASCAR's hottest young prospect.
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