Erik Jones scores Las Vegas jackpot with NASCAR Truck Series victory
Sept. 27, 2014
By Chris Knight
NASCAR Wire Service
LAS
VEGAS—He isn't old enough to gamble, but Erik Jones played his cards
right on Saturday night and won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Rhino
Linings 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Jones,
18, the youngest winner in NASCAR Truck Series history, made a
late-race pass on his Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Darrell Wallace
Jr. with
13 laps to go, earning his second victory in nine starts this
season.
“It
was a blast,” said Jones, who recovered from an early race hiccup on
pit road to win in his debut at Las Vegas. “I learned a ton. To get a
win
on a mile-and-a-half that’s awesome. It drove so good at the end, I
couldn’t ask for any more than this. I wanted to win out here so bad, I
had this marked down as one I was looking forward to. This is really
surreal for me right now.”
Jones,
who notched KBM's 10th NCWTS win of 2014 credited crew chief Eric
Phillips with the right adjustments on the final stop that earned him
his
third-career victory in 14 NCWTS starts.
“It
was perfect,” he added. “We were way, way too loose in traffic before
it, but we had a strong Tundra. It was a perfect adjustment. We made a
big
swing at it, it just worked out.”
For Wallace Jr., after a dominant performance, took the defeat as a huge bust.
“Just
got beat, flat out,” said Wallace Jr., after recording his fifth
runner-up performance of the season. “Congrats to the 51 (Jones), hate
that
it’s not the 54. We need a win. (It’s) frustrating, I hate finishing
second so bad. Thanks to my guys though. I thought it was ours. Another
KBM dominance for sure. We’ll go onto Talladega and try to finish one
spot better.”
Ryan
Blaney recorded his second Keystone Light Pole of the season and led
the field to green, but Wallace Jr. used momentum to make the pass for
the
lead on Lap 1.
Blaney,
though, reclaimed the top-spot for six laps on Lap 2, before Wallace
Jr. retook control on Lap 8 and led for 10 laps, when German Quiroga
made
a move on the second restart of the night. His Red Horse Racing
teammate Timothy Peters flexed his muscles, taking the lead on Lap 19,
before Jones muscled ahead for five laps, until the scheduled
competition caution on Lap 30.
When
the leaders hit pit road, Jones barely overshot his pit stall, which
cost him the lead, allowing Peters to put his No. 17 Toyota Tundra back
on
the point.
Peters
controlled the field for 17 laps, before Wallace Jr. muscled back
around him on Lap 51. The fourth and final caution of the race waived on
Lap
57 for an accident in Turn 4, which sent the leaders to pit road.
Peters’
crew won the race off pit lane, but Wallace Jr. soared ahead on the
restart, which set the tone for the second half of the event, until
green
flag pit stops began on Lap 105.
Wallace
Jr. cycled back through to the lead on Lap 114, but Jones already on
the prowl caught him, making the move on the frontstretch on Lap 133,
sealing his triumph.
With
five races remaining, the NCWTS will take a three-week break before
returning to action at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on Saturday,
October
18.
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