Kyle Busch earned the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) 2015 Owner Championship title for the performance of the Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) No. 4 Toyota Tundra driven by 2015 series Champion Erik Jones. The 19-year-old from MI has stepped up this year to drive for not one, not two, but three Sprint Cup Series drivers – filling in for the injured Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, and most recently replacing Matt Kenseth while Kenseth served his two-race suspension. Crafton celebrated his sixth win of the 2015 season, a career-best, while Jones celebrated the 2015 Camping World championship, his first in a national division of NASCAR. He added three more wins for Busch a year ago as the two teamed to win the owner’s title, and he got three starts in a Joe Gibbs Racing vehicle in the Xfinity Series.
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Crafton, Jones and Reddick were the only drivers eligible for the championship in Homestead. Making his first HMS start, Jones needed only to avoid trouble and finish 15th or higher to claim the series crown. He remained among the top 10, trailing Reddick but in position to win the championship, for much of the rest of the race.
Jones, from the small town of Byron, Mich., was consistent all season with nine top-10 finishes. “You know, we just kind of ran around the middle part of the top ten all day, and that’s honestly all we needed to do”.
Jones became the youngest champion In the 21-year history of the truck series. “Six wins with as many laps as we’ve led – it’s been awesome this season”.
It was a veteran move by a youngster – and yielded a championship celebration. He had done everything he could on the night, and duly clinched his sixth win of the season and his 11th career victory, but it wasn’t enough to retain his title for a third consecutive time, although he’d known that coming in and was philosophical on victory lane.
John Hunter Nemechek finished second in the race, series runner-up Tyler Reddick was third, Ben Kennedy was fourth and Timothy Peters was fifth.
That will be a tall order for Reddick, who enters Friday’s Ford EcoBoost 200 trailing Jones by 19 points. We just had one column that was bad for us: DNFs.
“He’s really been wanting a championship for his team, and everyone else back at the shop has been working hard at it. It’s going to come down to this last race, and hopefully we can pull it off”.
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“So I think it’s going to be somewhat conservative of an a approach, but I don’t think we need to change our approach by a whole lot…” “I’ve had a great three years with these guys”. “I say it each and every race, I don’t worry about the points, and I haven’t anxious about the points”. “I’m glad he stuck with me and our plan”.
