Jones after leading 151 laps: ‘We had by far the best truck’
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. — No one had a faster truck than Erik Jones in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway.
But speed requires fuel, and with only a handful of laps remaining, the fuel cell in Jones’ No. 4 Toyota ran dry. His lead, and a dominating performance, evaporated.
“It just sucks,” a disappointed Jones said afterward. “We had by far the best truck; we were up to an 11-second lead at one point.
“It’s just so terrible for these (Kyle Busch Motorsports) guys when we bring that fast of a truck.”
Jones, who finished 11th, wasn’t alone in his misery. Almost as soon as second-place Tyler Reddick moved into the top spot, his No. 19 Ford (Brad Keselowski Racing) began to sputter. He led seven laps and had the lead from 162-164 of the 167-lap race, before he too was out of gas.
Incredibly, Daniel Suarez suffered the same fate – when Reddick slowed, Suarez, also in a KBM Toyota, inherited the lead. One lap later, and just two laps from the finish, the orange No. 51 entry’s tank ran dry.
All of which left two-time defending series champion Matt Crafton out front, and two laps later, headed to the winner’s circle.
Jones, who started on the pole and will make his Sprint Cup Series debut in Saturday’s SpongeBob SquarePants 400, led five times. Before his fuel problems, he lost the lead only on pit road.
“No, I didn’t know how short (on fuel) we were,” he said. “I knew the fuel window. I knew we had to save. I couldn’t give the lead up to the 19 (of Reddick) at that point, if a caution had come out (and knowing) how big track position is if we’d have lost the lead we’d never been able to get it back.
“It’s just a shame, I saved as much as I could there later on and it just wasn’t enough.”
Reddick’s charge to the front was almost as impressive as that of Jones. The winner at Daytona International Speedway in the series’ opener, Reddick and teammate Austin Theriault both started Friday’s race in backup entries after crashing during qualifying.
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“I wouldn’t say I’m frustrated,” Reddick said. “All of our guys … they went above and beyond getting our backup out in a hurry and getting the thing prepared.
“Our backup truck was so good. It’s a testament of how much work our guys put in at the shop and how prepared we were in case that ever happened.”
Playing it safe wasn’t an option, according to Reddick, who finished 13th. A potential top 10 wouldn’t be as satisfying as making the turn into Victory Lane.
“We played it right. Well, we thought we played it right,” he said. “Just a little off at the end there.”
Having such a strong truck wasn’t much consolation for Jones, even though he said later that he’d seen wins slip away before.
“Probably not that close to the end (of a race),” he said. “There have been races where I felt like we had the best car but it broke it early on. But eight laps from the finish? I guess it hurts even worse, especially when you lead as many laps as we did.
“We had by far the best truck, just couldn’t bring it home.”