UNB! NETWORK STAFF REPORT
Erik Jones celebrates his 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 20th, 2015. |
Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Erik Jones, all of 19 years old, clinched the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship on Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He's the youngest champion in series history.
It's the first national series championship for Jones, who also drove select races in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR XFINITY Series in 2015. It's also the first championship for Kyle Busch as a team owner, and the championship also ensured that a Toyota would take him the big trophy for the third consecutive season.
Thanks to his aggressive racing and ability to overcome bad days, the 19-year-old was one of the most consistent drivers on the circuit this year. He had three wins leading into Homestead, including one at Iowa in June that turned his season around.
Prior to that Iowa win, Jones was coming off a 15th-place finish at Texas and a 23rd-place result at Gateway Motorsports Park despite starting on the pole in those two events. The Gateway finish dropped him to fourth in the standings -- the lowest he'd be all season -- before Jones righted his season the next race.
Jones later won at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, then at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago to pad his lead.
He took the lead in the points race for good after his August win in Canada, jumping from third in the standings to first. Down the stretch he pulled away from fellow 19-year-old Tyler Reddick and two-time defending series champion Matt Crafton to claim his first title.
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