Category: RC Truck Series

Hampton, Ga. (Feb. 28, 2015) – Matt Crafton overtook Daniel Suarez on the 59th lap of the Hyundai Construction Equipment 200 and never looked back. Crafton, last year’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, cruised the final 71 laps to claim his sixth career victory.

Crafton was one of five different leaders in the 130-lap race and pulled away from the field down the stretch in a 74-lap green-flag run, the longest stretch in a Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta, to finish off the win.

“Whew. This Menards Toyota Tundra was fast, fast,” said Crafton. “I was really, really disappointed in qualifying. It didn’t have a whole lot of single-lap speed by itself, but I knew once they dropped the green flag and this thing took off and we ran three laps, I’m like, ‘we’ve got something for these boys, they’re in trouble today.’”

A favorite track for Crafton, the significance of a trip to Victory Lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway was not lost on his crew chief, Carl Joiner Jr.

“A couple of weeks ago, I said, ‘we won Texas, we won Martinsville, Daytona’s great and all, but there’s so much prestige here,’” said Joiner Jr. “I mean, as a little kid watching the Atlanta Journal 500 on Sundays with my dad, I’m just so pumped. I’m so proud of these guys. We’re in Victory Lane in Atlanta and we put it on ’em.”

Ty Dillon, the last to win a trucks race at Atlanta, finished a distant second, 8.752 seconds behind Crafton.

Ben Kennedy was the eventual pole sitter and ran a consistent race to finish third. He led just the race’s first lap but ran near the front all day after a disappointing opening season race last week. Daniel Suarez finished fourth, and Tyler Reddick, last week’s Camping World Truck Series winner in Daytona rounded out the top-5.

“It feels like a win, especially after last week,” said Kennedy, who was caught up in a pileup last week in Daytona and recorded a DNF. “I love Atlanta.”

Brad Keselowski originally was declared the pole winner in Saturday morning’s qualifying, but later it was determined he didn’t actually start his Round 3 lap in time and was slotted 10th in the lineup.

Keselowski jumped up to fourth within the first seven laps and grabbed second coming out of a caution just a few laps later.

Soon after, he wrested the lead from Jones but stayed at the front for just six laps. Keselowski’s position began to drop precipitously and he had to pit for new tires. That, combined with the timing of another caution, left him off the lead lap and Keselowski never recovered to finish 15th.

Atlanta Motor Speedway’s NASCAR weekend wraps up Sunday with the Sprint Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 with a green flag start at 1 p.m.

Ben Kennedy
No. 31 Heater.com Chevrolet
Homestead-Miami Speedway –  Ford EcoBoost 200
November 14, 2014

Ben Kennedy Named NCWTS Rookie of the Year at Homestead-Miami Speedway

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (November 15, 2014) – In taking the checkered flag in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Ben Kennedy captured the 2014 Sunoco Rookie of the Year title, capping off his season with a top-20 finish. Despite handling struggles which resulted in a disappointing 17th-place finish, Kennedy made history as the first descendant of NASCAR’s founding family to complete a season in one of the sport’s top-three touring series.

After showing promising speeds in the weekend’s two practice sessions, Kennedy advanced to the final round of knockout qualifying, earning an 11th-place starting spot for the Ford EcoBoost 200. With tight handling on the race’s first long run, the 22-year-old was scored in the 12th position when the caution flag waved on lap 25. Crew chief Doug George called Kennedy into the pits for four tires, fuel and a track-bar adjustment, and the Heater.com Chevrolet returned to the track in 11th. When the yellow flag was displayed once again on lap 71, Kennedy had dropped to the 18th spot, struggling with a truck that was tight in the center and exit. Once again, the Turner Scott Motorsports team provided Kennedy with a four-tire stop, earning him five positions on pit road before the field went green on lap 76. The team was able to make a final swing at adjustments under yellow on lap 100, but despite restarting in the 11th position, the Heater.com Chevrolet continued to be plagued by handling, with Kennedy ultimately crossing the finish line in the 17th position.

Ben Kennedy on Homestead-Miami Speedway:
“This certainly wasn’t the kind of night on the track we wanted to end our season with, but tonight was really special. We had a great Heater.com Silverado in practice and qualifying, but that just didn’t translate over once the track cooled at night. Regardless, I could not be more proud of everyone on my Turner Scott Motorsports team. We had a lot of challenges and bad luck this year, especially in the second half of the season, but we just kept fighting until the end. We have a lot to look back on and be proud of on the track, but what’s even more important is how this team overcame adversity.”

Ben Kennedy on winning Sunoco Rookie of the Year:
“Every driver’s goal is to win Rookie of the Year when they enter a new series, and it’s obviously something you only get one shot at. Earning that title was a testament to our team and how hard every single person worked. It was a blast to compete against Tyler [Reddick] and the other talented guys in this year’s rookie class. I learned so much this year and had a lot of fun; these trucks handle so much different than anything I had ever driven before. I have a lot more to learn and accomplish, and I can’t wait to see what next year holds. It’s going to be a long off-season, because I already can’t wait to get to Daytona.” In addition to clinching the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title, Kennedy ends the season ninth in the NCWTS Driver Point Standings with a total of one pole, one top five, seven top 10s and 58 laps led.

Practice
Position: 6th
Best Time: 32.640
Speed: 165.441

Final Practice
Position: 14th
Best Time: 32.912
Speed: 164.074

Qualifying
Position: 11th
Best Time:32.702
Speed: 165.128

Race
Position: 17th
Laps Led: 0
Laps Completed/Total Laps: 134/134

No lights, two red flags, no problem. Not for tonight’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner Erik Jones. What a night it turned out to be for Jones after starting on the pole, his second pole in 17 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races. The win also brought home team owner Kyle Busch and Kyle Busch Motorsports win number 13 in the series, seven of the victories won by Busch and the third win of the season for Jones.

At first it was unclear if the race would get underway due to a power outage at the track which affected the lighting. After a delay of about 75 minutes, the lights came on and the racing began but the race ended early after another power outage on Lap 126. The outages were widespread and affected areas other than the track so NASCAR called the race early for safety reasons and decided not to run the scheduled 150 laps.

Jones dominated in his KBM Toyota, leading 114 of the 126 laps and capturing his fourth career win in the series. He also won this same race last year.

In his post-race interview Jones stated, “It’s pretty cool to pick up another win at Phoenix. It’s a great way to top off the year for me in this truck and just a good way to start off the 2015 season.” A happy Jones went on to say, “It’s just an awesome night, I feel like we had a dominate truck and could definitely have brought it home.”

The race had its share of incidents as well, particularly, in the beginning laps, including a wreck at the start of the race on the opening lap that caused an accordion affect that essentially took out John Wes Townley, German Quiroga and Justin Jennings. The race finally went green on Lap 19 but two laps later, Ben Rhodes spun and brought out the second caution. The race restarted on Lap 27 but shortly after, Spencer Gallagher and Timothy Peters made contact, Peters hit the wall and collected Jeb Burton. The result of all these accidents was that out of the first 33 laps, 28 were run under caution.

The fourth caution of the night came on Lap 39 and brought out the first red flag, after Joey Coulter’s Chevrolet blew a tire and hit the outside wall. His truck had to be taken off the track on a roll-back.

Bringing home second place was NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points leader, Matt Crafton who also started the race in second. Crafton is in the perfect position to bring home another championship if he can finish 21st or better next week at Homestead. If he does he will be the first driver to win two consecutive championships in the truck series.

Crafton also was one driver that would have liked to have seen the green flag fly again after that second red flag when the power went out again.

Crafton commented, “I would have liked to have seen this thing go all the way tonight.” He continued saying, “I know if I could have gotten track position on him we could have beat him, I truly believe it. I’m tired of finishing second to that damn 51 though.”

Third place went to Cole Custer and fourth place went to Ryan Blaney, who is second in the points. Ben Rhodes finished fifth followed by Darrell Wallace Jr. in sixth and John Hunter Nemechek in seventh place.

Austin Dillon, Johnny Sauter and Tyler Reddick finished in eighth through 10^th, respectively.

The top five in the championship points standings are:

1) Matt Crafton  798

2) Ryan Blaney  -25

3) Darrell Wallace Jr.  -46

4) Johnny Sauter  -59

5) Timothy Peters -93

The next and final race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be the Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. ET.