- Tundra driver Erik Jones captured the checkered flag in Friday night’s shortened NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Phoenix International Raceway.
- The 150-lap race was red-flagged and ultimately made official at lap 126 due to power outages in the area causing the one-mile Arizona to lose power throughout the evening.
- Jones started on the pole and led the field twice for 114 laps (of 126) en route to his second victory at Phoenix in only his second start at the raceway.
- Tundra drivers Matt Crafton (second), Darrell Wallace Jr. (sixth), John H. Nemechek (seventh) and Johnny Sauter (ninth) also finished in the top-10.
- Tonight’s victory was the 17th of the season for Tundra drivers in NCWTS competition.
- It marks the 128th win for Tundra drivers since Toyota joined the series in 2004.
- Jones now has three wins this season. In addition to his Phoenix victory, Jones also has wins at Iowa (July 11) and Las Vegas (Sept. 27).
- With tonight’s results, KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) has earned 13 victories this season marking a new single season record for the team. Along with Jones’ three wins this season, his teammate Wallace also has two victories and team owner Kyle Busch has visited victory lane seven times in 2014.
- Crafton continues to lead the unofficial NCWTS standings by 25 points over second-place Ryan Blaney. Tundra drivers Wallace (third), Sauter (fourth), Timothy Peters (fifth), German Quiroga (seventh) and Jeb Burton (ninth) are also in the top-10 in the point standings with only one race remaining this season.
ERIK JONES, No. 51 Dollar General Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 1st
How special is it to win one year following your first career NCWTS victory at Phoenix?
“It’s pretty cool to pick up another win here at Phoenix. Definitely a great way to top off the year for me in this truck. A good way to start the 2015 season. A great Dollar General Tundra. Cool to have them on board. Have to thank Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing engines, everyone at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) — they do a great job. It’s awesome to break the truck record — 13 wins in a season and cool to be the one that got to do that. Just an awesome night. Wish we could have raced 26 more (laps). I felt like we definitely had a dominant truck and we could have brought it home.”
How strong was the Tundra in the race?
“Just an awesome Dollar General Tundra — that’s all we can say. It was a good truck when we built it — one of the best ones we’ve built so far and it showed tonight. Just proud to be a part of KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) and it’s been an awesome year. We broke the record here tonight with 13 wins in a season — that’s amazing for these guys. Just excited for next year — full season with them and chasing down the championship. It’s going to be a great year for sure. Can’t wait to get it started — it’s been an awesome season with three wins. Just can’t believe it.”
How did the truck handle in traffic during the green flag pit stops?
“Just as racy for me. I felt like we could definitely work through traffic as well as we needed to and we were able to move up and make the moves we were able to make to get through traffic there when we cycled through. I didn’t have any complaints about this truck all night. This was one of best trucks I had all year. Just cool to be able to drive such great Tundras and really go out and pick up wins and contend for wins.”
Could you have held Matt Crafton off?
“I felt pretty confident about it. I think that we would have been able to definitely been able to hold him off. I felt like we had, by far, the best truck. He could run for 10 laps pretty hard and maintain about five back to us and then it seemed like we’d just kind of drive away inch by inch at that point. Just felt like it was a great truck and I didn’t have a doubt in my mind that if we were to go back racing there for the last 20 that we would have been able to hold him off.”
ERIC PHILLIPS, crew chief, No. 51 Dollar General Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
How is it to have Erik Jones piloting that 51 truck?
“He (Erik Jones) does an awesome job – everyone at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) has. There’s a feel for this race track that he has and he’s showed it the last two years. The guys built a brand new truck – it’s the first brand new truck that we’ve built all year at KBM so I’m pretty proud of that and pumped about it. I think it shows good things going into next year for these guys. This is the first new one that they’ve built and the kind of speed that it had all night, we’ve got another new one going to Homestead next week and I’m just excited about the future for these guys.”
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ERIC PHILLIPS, crew chief, No. 51 Dollar General Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports (continued)
Did you make a lot of changes between practice yesterday and qualifying today?
“We made some changes yesterday. We don’t normally practice here during the day so we knew we were looking for a balance during the day and we knew what we needed to do for the night. I think that’s probably one of the strongest suits of this 51 truck with me and Rudy (Fugle, engineer) working together. We get a good balance in the day and we know what we need to do at night to have another good truck. Obviously you need to make some changes. We didn’t make any big changes, but we did make some changes and we didn’t have to make any tonight, the truck was just awesome.”
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Goof Off/Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
Could you have passed Erik Jones with more laps to finish the race?
“Absolutely — 1000 percent. I’d been working on my restart. I had raced under him (Erik Jones) for a little while. I know if I could have got some track position on him we could have beat him — I truly believe that. He was definitely fast. Right there on that last run I definitely thought I had something for him if we would have had track position. I’m tired of finishing second to that damn 51.”
How strong was the 51 truck?
“The 51 definitely had the best truck on the long run. We made some adjustments right there at the end. It was a damn shame that the lights went out. We were mirroring each other on that little short run there. I had messed with the blowers and got my stuff to come to me pretty good. I knew if I could get in front of him I could guarantee he wasn’t going to get back by me. It’s a damn shame that the lights went out because it was going to be exciting, I can promise you, on the next restart.”
Will you points race at Homestead or go for the victory?
“I’m going into Homestead and trying to win the race. That’s been our goal since Daytona — we haven’t looked at the points and we haven’t focused anything on points. Just went out there and tried to win as many races as possible. We’ve only won two. We’ve had some bad luck — leading a race, blew a right front tire and finished second too many times too.”
What did you learn that could have helped make the pass on Erik Jones with another restart?
“I tried something on that last restart and I learned something in the middle of (turns) one and two and I really, really looked forward to another restart. He (Erik Jones) lagged us back and slowed us down really, really bad coming to that last restart. That’s why he beat me so bad getting down there into turn one, but I learned something down in the middle of one and two and I was looking forward to another restart at the end. I truly believe if I could have got in front of him — right there at the end we were mirroring each other lap for lap — I would beat him a lap and he would beat me a lap. It was going to be exciting if we could get in front of him.”
DARRELL WALLACE JR., No. 54 Toyota Care Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 6th
How was the race?
“Once we finally got started it just wasn’t our night. We got up there fairly early, but then dropped like a rock — found out we had a bad right front tire. We came in and worked on our Tundra for the race and got back up there and were still having issues. We just couldn’t get it to turn. My guys never gave up and we got down towards the end and made some good calls on the restart and got up there to sixth and then the lights go out. Eventful, but hate to see it end like that. I felt like we could have picked up a couple more spots to get our Toyota Tundra in the top five and maybe have a shot at the win. We’re going to Miami and we’ll finish out the season strong.”
JOHN H. NEMECHEK, No. 8 swmtx.com Toyota Tundra, NEMCO Motorsports
Finishing Position: 7th
JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 98 Nextant Aerospace Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 19th
JEB BURTON, No. 13 Estes/Carolina Nut Company Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 25th
GERMAN QUIROGA, No. 77 Otterbox Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 26th
What happened in the accident on the first lap?
“They were rolling and I don’t know what happened. There was just some wrecking and some checking up. They stopped so fast and I tried and tried to stop, but I couldn’t stop in time. It’s a shame, but it is what it is.”
AKINORI OGATA, No. 35 ENEOS Toyota Tundra, WinTron Racing
Finishing Position: 29th
JOHN WES TOWNLEY, No. 05 Zaxby’s Toyota Tundra, Athenian Motorsports
Finishing Position: 33rd
What happened in the accident early in the race?
“The spotters are positioned in turns one and two and all they can see are the trucks coming towards them. It’s just one of those give and take deals. When you’re in the truck you can’t really see anything as far as past the guy right in front of you. I was two feet off that guy and it was just chaos from there. I wish I could have done more — it sucks for it to end this way.”
