Erik Jones wins NASCAR Truck Series championship

It was a veteran move by a youngster – and yielded a championship celebration. “The last two years we haven’t been able to race here, and to be able to take the gloves off and not worry about the championship and just go out and win, and I said nothing else was going to make us happy, so that’s what we did tonight”.

For Crafton and his ThorSport Racing No. 88 Toyota team, the championship torch was passed to a rookie driver 20 years his junior. “We all came in with this as the ultimate goal this season, but I didn’t think it would be as hard as it was through the entire season”.

That honor went to Erik Jones, who cemented his first series title in Friday night’s Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a sixth-place finish. “I have no problem running a year there… as long as need be there”.

“I’ve had great three years with these guys (at KBM) and I can’t think of a better way to thank them”. Making his first HMS start, Jones needed only to avoid trouble and finish 15th or higher to claim the series crown. Jones’ worst finish in 22 races this season is 23rd at Gateway Motorsports Park, and he enters Friday night’s race riding a wave of 14 straight top-10 results.

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

“It’s just special to everyone at KBM”, noted Busch. KBM now has the most owner titles in the NCWTS with four and the first team in history to win three in a row. “There is nothing greater than to have that feeling and to build this company from the ground up”.

Later that year, at the Snowball Derby in Pensacola, Jones raced door-to-door with Busch and ended up beating the NASCAR star to the finish line.

Jones filled a relief role for Denny Hamlin at Bristol in April, after Hamlin’s neck locked up during a rain delay.

In 2013, after NASCAR lowered the minimum age requirement for short tracks, Kyle Busch Motorsports signed the then-16-year-old Jones to a five-race deal in the Truck Series.

“(Busch) has really helped accelerate my learning curve, and it’s hard to put into words how much he’s helped”, said Jones. Earlier this season, he subbed for Kyle Busch at Kansas, the last of 11 races Busch missed after breaking his right leg and left foot in the season-opening Xfinity Series event at Daytona.

Swartz Creek Academy’s Erik Jones, center, takes part in a graduation ceremony on the stage during driver introductions for a NASCAR truck race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, June 6, 2014.

Reddick was third, followed by Ben Kennedy and Timothy Peters.

“Absolutely, I think the Xfinity Series is completely necessary”, Jones said.