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.
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Crafton wound up third in the final series standings, 22 points behind Jones, but relished a year flush with dominance and laps led, doubling the amount of victories in both championship seasons combined.
Jones’ KBM teammate, Daniel Suarez, also led laps early. Unfortunately we were just a little too short there coming into Homestead to really mix it up in the last race. “In 2016, we’re going to be strong for it”. “I say it each and every race, I don’t worry about the points, and I haven’t anxious about the points”. “It was a lot of fun, a lot of fun”. “It’s wonderful what Junior (crew chief Joiner) can do with these trucks. On that last run, we hit a home run there”. “It’s fun to see our, mine and Samantha’s (Busch, wife), organization run like that and compete for championships and to ultimately score our first driver’s championship this week would be pretty special”.
“He put it to me when he beat me in a Super Late Model race”, recalled Busch, who will race for the Sprint Cup title on Sunday. “To be the youngest to do it would be a bonus for me”.
“I remember the first time we raced against each other he blew my doors off”, said Busch, who is the team owner for Jones’ No. 4 Toyota. I thought we did a good job of letting everything sort out and then kind of going to work and getting spots.
There was no blowing up Friday night.
Crafton, Jones and Reddick were the only drivers eligible for the championship in Homestead. To capture the crown, he needed to finish 15th or better.
Jones made five starts in Busch’s truck in 2013 and earned his first career national series victory with a win at Phoenix. He qualified fifth and was content to race safely and efficiently, remaining in the top 10 for most of the race and avoiding any calamity on the track. “Just can’t thank them all enough”, said Jones, who is the first driver to successfully clinch a title with KBM.
“A lot of this was being with a great team like Kyle Busch Motorsports”, said Jones. “I’m glad he stuck with me and our plan”.
From beating Kyle Busch at age 16 in the Snowball Derby to winning a NASCAR title at age 19, Erik Jones is already proving he is racing’s next big thing. Throughout most of the race, Nemechek provided Crafton’s toughest competition. He led 93 of the 134 laps, leaving NASCAR Next driver Nemechek (Chevrolet) and Reddick (Ford) in his wake to battle for second.
“(In) the bigger picture, obviously, this is a big deal to everyone at Brad Keselowski Racing”, Reddick said.
Impressive like Jones’ rookie season.
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“We were very consistent this year”.
