Erik Jones Takes Texas Truck Series Race

Erik Jones celebrates in Victory Lane at Texas

Rainier Ehrhardt/NASCAR via Getty Images

On turf that typically belongs to two-time defending NASCAR Camping World Series champion Matt Crafton, Erik Jones dominated on Friday night.

Jones led 117 of 147 laps on the way to victory in the Winstar World Casino & Resort 350 at Texas Motor Speedway, his first win at the venue, his third of the season and the seventh of his career.

"We've went through a lot of ups and downs these past couple of months and trying to get back into this championship hunt and getting our Tundra back in there," said Jones. "It's pretty awesome, a swing up and it’s nice to get back in victory lane here at Texas, a place I love."

With the win, Jones holds onto the points lead with just two races remaining in the season.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]"Me and Kyle (Busch, owner) were talking earlier this week and talking how these next three tracks are really good for KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports), good for myself," said Jones. "Going on to Phoenix, we’re undefeated there with two-and-0, so hopefully we’ll have another next week."

In an event that featured only one caution, a track-record low, Jones finished 2.855 seconds ahead of runner-up Daniel Suarez, who matched his career-best finish. Jones extended his series from 10 to 17 points over Crafton, who ran fourth after winning the Keystone Light Pole Award.

The top two finishers drove Toyotas fielded by Kyle Busch Motorsports.

In recent years, Crafton has been the dominant force in the series at 1.5-mile intermediate speedways, but Jones grabbed the lead on Lap 13 and pulled away to a lead of nearly three seconds. Jones squandered that advantage with a slow pit stop under green on Lap 47, but the lone caution on Lap 54 bunched the field and erased a lead of 5.9 seconds built by Crafton.

Jones overtook Crafton for the top spot on lap 65 and controlled the race the rest of the way.

The race was the second fastest ever in the Truck Series, lasting just one hour, 24 minutes and 22 seconds.

Results

Pos.	#	Driver	Make	Start	Laps	Led	Status	Points
1	4	Erik Jones	Toyota	5	147	117	Running	48
2	51	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	7	147	0	Running	0
3	29	Ryan Blaney	Ford	15	147	0	Running	0
4	88	Matt Crafton	Toyota	1	147	27	Running	41
5	19	Tyler Reddick	Ford	17	147	1	Running	40
6	17	Timothy Peters	Toyota	6	147	0	Running	38
7	33	Brandon Jones	Chevy	4	147	0	Running	37
8	54	Christopher Bell	Toyota	11	147	0	Running	36
9	11	Ben Kennedy	Toyota	9	147	0	Running	35
10	13	Cameron Hayley	Toyota	14	147	1	Running	35
11	8	John Hunter Nemechek	Chevy	12	147	1	Running	34
12	23	Spencer Gallagher	Chevy	2	146	0	Running	32
13	98	Johnny Sauter	Toyota	13	146	0	Running	31
14	14	Daniel Hemric	Chevy	3	146	0	Running	30
15	97	Jesse Little	Toyota	16	145	0	Running	29
16	00	Jeb Burton	Chevy	8	145	0	Running	0
17	05	John Wes Townley	Chevy	10	144	0	Running	27
18	15	Mason Mingus	Chevy	18	144	0	Running	26
19	07	Ray Black Jr	Chevy	19	142	0	Running	25
20	94	Timmy Hill	Chevy	20	141	0	Running	24
21	74	Jordan Anderson	Chevy	21	138	0	Running	23
22	08	Korbin Forrister	Chevy	26	136	0	Running	22
23	02	Tyler Young	Chevy	29	136	0	Running	21
24	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Chevy	24	134	0	Running	20
25	63	Justin Jennings	Chevy	23	89	0	Running	19
26	1	Travis Kvapil	Chevy	22	77	0	Oil Leak	18
27	6	Norm Benning	Chevy	28	40	0	Suspension	17
28	45	Todd Peck	Chevy	27	17	0	Suspension	16
29	50	Dexter Stacey	Chevy	25	11	0	Electrical	15
30	49	Mike Harmon	Chevy	32	6	0	Engine	0
31	36	Tyler Tanner	Chevy	30	0	0	Engine	13
32	0	Caleb Roark	Chevy	31	0	0	Electrical	1

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