RELATED: Full race results | Updated series standings
AVONDALE, Ariz. — A hard-edged contest for the lead snared two championship contenders, and a pit-stop misstep hindered the third, as Friday the 13th luck haunted the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title race at Phoenix International Raceway.
While Timothy Peters scooted away with his second victory of the season, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick and Matt Crafton all played damage control Friday night in a topsy-turvy Lucas Oil 150. Once the curtain closed on the next-to-last event of the season, Jones inched closer to his first NASCAR national series crown, Reddick made modest but unfulfilling gains and Crafton’s hopes for extending his title reign to three years grew dimmer.
After a late-race restart, Jones and Crafton collided with 30 laps to go on the exit of Turn 4. Crafton caught the worst of the melee, collecting ThorSport Racing teammate Johnny Sauter at speed on the frontstretch. Jones, the pole-starter, emerged with relatively minor damage on the left-rear fender, rallying from a pit stop to finish ninth. Crafton spent significant time behind the wall for repairs, finishing 20 laps down in 23rd place.
Crafton and Jones had raced fiercely earlier in the 150-lapper, and their contact near the end was no different. But the two-time series champ absorbed the blame for the fateful brush.
“It was 100 percent my fault,” said Crafton, who led three times for 15 laps. “We were close and it was tight racing. When you get somebody side-by-side with you, I just got loose and made a mistake. Things happen, we’re all human and we’ll go on to Homestead. I hate it for the guys, we had such a good truck. We’ll just hold our heads up and go to Homestead.”
Jones, who can eliminate Crafton from the title picture with a result of 27th or better in the 32-truck field in next Friday’s season-ending Ford EcoBoost 200 (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Homestead-Miami Speedway, said the contact was simply the byproduct of hard-nosed competition.
“There was definitely some hard racing,” said Jones, who led five times for 106 laps. “He didn’t want us to get the lead obviously and slipped up and made a mistake. It’s going to happen, it’s racing, it’s hard racing and we both had fast trucks. It’s just a shame when you lose a shot at the win. …
“At that moment I wasn’t thinking about the championship. I was thinking about winning a race and that flashed before my eyes. I was somewhat worried about it, I wasn’t too concerned about it, I figured we’d be OK since obviously the 88 (Crafton) was involved as well. Still a 19-point lead and that’s a solid margin to go into Homestead.”
Reddick actually gained a spot in the standings with a fifth-place finish, but failed to capitalize more on the misfortunes of Crafton and Jones. The 19-year-old driver said his Brad Keselowski Racing team would investigate possible trouble on his No. 19 Ford’s right-front, which led to a balky tire change on his final pit stop.
Jones can close out Reddick in the season finale by placing 15th or better, 16th with leading one lap, and 17th with leading the most laps. Though a mathematic chance at taking the title exists, Reddick was despondent in the immediate aftermath of defeat, calling the night “a real shame.”
“We still needed to win the race and that was all I really cared about doing,” Reddick said. “Running fifth is not going to win us a championship.”