CONCORD, N.C. — Story by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Audio by Jacob Seelman and Kyle Magda courtesy of NASCAR Media — Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images North America photo —
Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway was an instant classic.
On a hair-raising green-white-checkered restart, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series rookie contender Erik Jones and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Kasey Kahne went wheel-to-wheel in the final 100 yards, with Kahne winning a thrilling battle right to the line in the second-closest finish (tie) in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history.
The official margin of victory was 0.005 seconds at the line, with Kahne scoring his fifth career Truck win in six starts and first since 2012 at Rockingham.
(Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images North America photo)
“I didn’t know who won when we crossed the line,” Kahne admitted. “Joe Shear (Jr., crew chief) told me before the race we were going to win, and that was the hardest I’ve ever driven a truck [of the six starts] tonight.”
“We just had another opportunity, thankfully, on that last restart and we got ourselves another one. I don’t know exactly when I’ll be back in the trucks — this is Cole Custer’s truck, and he’s really good in it — but that was a fun win. It felt good, but Cole has a great team here.”
The win was also the first for JR Motorsports and team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. in just the team’s second-ever start at the Truck level, as well as Chevrolet’s 200th career NCWTS victory.
“That was some major committment [by Kasey] to stay on the throttle with as hung out as the truck was, from what I saw,” Earnhardt said following the race. “Kasey put himself in that position to be able to use the side draft and it worked out perfectly. It’s pretty exciting, these trucks put on a show pretty much wherever they go and Kasey did his work tonight. Great night for us.”
Both members of the front row, pole winner Kahne (unapproved adjustments) and outside polesitter Jones (late to drivers meeting), had to drop to the rear of the field before the start — making the storylines even more numerous and setting up a spectacle under the lights at Charlotte.
On the opening start, Kyle Busch Motorsports rookie Matt Tifft spun his tires on the inside lane and allowed 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski to lead the opening four laps before two-time defending Truck champion Matt Crafton stormed to the inside of Keselowski to claim the top spot on top five.
The early story of the event, however, was Jones, who charged forward from the tail of the field. In ten laps, the 18-year-old blasted from shotgun to sixth — putting on a power display far beyond his years and experience in the No. 4 Dollar General Toyota Tundra.
The event’s first caution flew at lap 20 when Korbin Forrister, after a career-best qualifying effort in his No. 08 Tilted Kilt Silverado, spun off the exit of turn four and slid through the infield grass. On the ensuing restart, Jones blasted to the inside of Crafton to take the lead at lap 26 and began to slowly gap the frontrunners as he set a blistering early pace.
Jones extended his lead out to five seconds over Crafton and Kahne, but the second caution of the night reset the players at lap 63 when Travis Kvapil cut down a right front tire and clobbered the outside wall on the frontstretch right in front of rookie Justin Boston, who took evasive action to avoid being collected in the chaos.
Jones led the field down pit road, but Crafton eked the advantage out in the race off, edging Jones by a whisker to retake the lead for the second restart of the night at lap 69 before Jones used the same inside move as on the first restart of the night to blast back to the point.
From there, Jones crushed the field over the next stint — extending his gap to seven seconds over Crafton by the time lap 100 rolled around. However, just four laps later the yellow flag dropped for the third time on the night, when Ray Black Jr. tagged the inside wall with the back end of his No. 07 Chevrolet Silverado and slowed down the backstretch.
Jones blistered the field on pit road and reassumed the lead ahead of Tyler Reddick for the restart, coming with 25 laps to go and making for a “Friday Night Lights” showdown between two of the young rising stars of NASCAR.
It was just that on the restart, as Reddick gutted to the inside to try and take the top spot away before Kahne came calling from third and waged war with Jones. For five straight laps — beginning at lap 111 — the pair raced door-to-door for the lead, with Kahne holding the advantage every time across the stripe before a caution for a hard crash down the back by Mason Mingus interrupted the fun at lap 115.
The fun wasn’t done, however. Kahne got a massive push from Matt Crafton to take the lead on the race’s next restart with 13 laps to go, but beginning with the 10 to go mark, Jones began to reel the double zero in. The young rookie set the fastest lap of the entire race on lap 124 and pulled to within a truck length at lap 128 before making a decisive pass in turn one two laps later to reclaim the lead.
The match was not over, however — as a caution came out coming to the white flag for Daniel Hemric’s date with the outside wall in turn four slowed the field one more time and set up the event’s green-white-checkered overtime finish.
After the two laps were over, amid a shower of sparks and a cloud of smoke, Jones came up a heartbreaking skosh short after leading the most laps for the second week in a row.
“It’s really hard to see past the red of finishing second,” a very frustrated Jones said. “I’m frustrated with tonight’s finish, but you need a short memory to be a race car driver. We’ll just go on to Iowa in the XFINITY car on Sunday and try to get ourselves a win there.”
Series points leader Matt Crafton came home third, with teammates Tyler Reddick and Brad Keselowski rounding out the top five.
John Wes Townley finished sixth, moving into the top five in NCWTS points, followed by Timothy Peters in seventh. Stellar runs for KBM rookies Matt Tifft and Justin Boston resulted in top tens for both, in eighth and ninth respectively. Spencer Gallagher rounded out the top ten.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series resumes on May 29 with the Lucas Oil 200 from Dover International Speedway.
Audio with race winner Kasey Kahne:
Audio with runner-up Erik Jones:
Audio with fourth-place Tyler Reddick:
Audio with fifth-place Brad Keselowski:
Audio with eighth-place Matt Tifft:
RESULTS: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series; North Carolina Education Lottery 200; Charlotte Motor Speedway; May 15, 2015
- Kasey Kahne (0.005 margin of victory; tied for second-closest finish in series history)
- Erik Jones
- Matt Crafton
- Tyler Reddick
- Brad Keselowski
- John Wes Townley
- Timothy Peters
- Matt Tifft
- Justin Boston
- Spencer Gallagher
- Joe Nemechek
- Scott Lagasse Jr.
- Brandon Jones
- Cameron Hayley
- Johnny Sauter
- Ben Kennedy
- Daniel Hemric
- Tyler Young
- Jennifer Jo Cobb
- Kyle Fowler
- Tyler Tanner
- Ray Black Jr.
- Jordan Anderson
- Caleb Holman
- Wendell Chavous
- Mason Mingus
- David Gilliland
- Travis Kvapil
- Korbin Forrister
- Justin Jennings
- B.J. McLeod
- Norm Benning
