Erik Jones Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief AVONDALE, Ariz. – Heading into Phoenix International Raceway, perhaps no one in the XFINITY Series has more momentum than Daniel Suarez. The 2015 Rookie of the Year, Suarez has opened the first three races with three top 10’s, including a runner-up finish last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That finish enabled Suarez to take over the championship lead for the first time in his young NASCAR career. Suarez, 24, is no stranger to Phoenix International Raceway. The NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate raced in NASCAR’sRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service Following a tough-luck 31st-place finish in the season-opener at Daytona, 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Erik Jones is beginning to hit his stride in his first full-time NASCAR XFINITY Series season. The 20-year-old NASCAR Next alum has produced a third-place finish in each of the last two races, jumping from 22nd in the points standings to seventh, 20 notches behind leader Daniel Suárez. Jones will attempt to continue his ascent up the standings and try to capture the first berth in the 12-driver, four-roundRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – When Kyle Busch finally broke his home-court jinx at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he did it in style. Leading 199 of 200 laps, Busch won Saturday’s Boyd Gaming 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series at the 1.5-mile track, pacing a 1-2-3 finish by Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas. The Las Vegas native ended an 0-for-11 drought at his home track, beating teammate Daniel Suárez to the finish line by .817 seconds, with Erik Jones rolling across the stripe in third. The victory was Busch’sRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – Scratch another race track off Kyle Busch’s checklist. In what evolved into a two-man battle against Kyle Larson on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion continued his mastery in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, beating Kyle Larson to the finish line to win the Heads Up Georgia 250. The victory was Busch’s first at the 1.54-mile track and the 77th of his career, extending his own series record. But the outcome was far from a foregoneRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The 2016 NASCAR season is upon us and that means a fresh start for the drivers and teams, hope for their fans, and a set of bold predictions on how it will all play out. With our new NASCAR guy, Toby Christie, putting out his bold picks for the new season, it only seemed right that I try to restore balance on what has been predicted. Daytona 500 champion: Jimmie Johnson Johnson has two wins (2006, ’13) in “The Great American Race” and has formed aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Let’s cut to the Chase. Starting this year, the NASCAR XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series will use elimination-based playoff formats to determine their respective champions, just as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has done for the past two seasons. According to NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France, the new approach not only builds on the resounding success of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but it also provides a training ground for drivers who ultimately will compete at NASCAR’s highestRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Kyle Larson took out a season of frustration on the NASCAR XFINITY Series field Saturday in the season finale, tracking down Austin Dillon in the closing laps to win the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway by slightly less than a second. Despite Larson’s dominance in leading 118 of 200 laps, Chris Buescher ran a clean race, finishing 11th to clinch his first XFINITY Series title. Buescher came into the race needing to finish 13th or better to guarantee himself the championship. AfterRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. – With the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title now in Erik Jones’ rear-view mirror, the immediate question becomes “What’s next for the 19-year-old prodigy?” With a relatively nondescript, problem-free sixth-place finish in Friday night’s Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jones secured the series driver’s championship, as well as the owner’s title for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Discovered by Busch when he beat his future car owner as a 16-year-old in the Snowball Derby for Super Late Models, Jones delivered theRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla.—As strong as he was in winning Friday night’s Ford EcoBoost 200, Matt Crafton was already looking ahead to 2016. Crafton, whose hopes for a third consecutive NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship were dashed by a crash at Phoenix last week, won his sixth race of the season, holding off John Hunter Nemechek and Tyler Reddick in the season finale. Although Crafton’s No. 88 Toyota Tundra finished 2.9 seconds ahead of Nemechek and more than six seconds ahead of Reddick, the 39-year-oldRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service There’s nothing like a championship to validate the efforts of a young driver — or a team owner, for that matter. When Erik Jones and Tyler Reddick take center stage as the opening act of Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the spotlight will shine squarely on the two 19-year-olds, one of whom will become the youngest-ever NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, barring a Matt Crafton miracle. Just as the significant, however, is the battle between the owners of the two teams, KyleRead More