Date: Sept. 14, 2018
Event: World of Westgate 200 (Race 18 of 23)
Series: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
Location: Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: Three Segments; 30 laps/30 laps/74 laps
Start/Finish: 7th / 26th (engine, completed 119 of 144 laps)
Winner: Grant Enfinger of ThorSport Racing (Ford)
Brandon Jones made his fifth and final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start of the season for KBM Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He was hoping to end his night in Victory Lane with his No. 51 Delta® Faucet/Menards Tundra, but instead was parked in the garage before the race ended with a 26th-place finish.
Stage One Recap:
- Jones started seventh and was up to third after the first caution of the race on lap five.
- He was fifth when the first 30-lap stage ended.
- His KBM team brought him to pit road on lap 33 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment to help the handling.
Stage Two Recap:
- Jones was sixth to start the second stage.
- With 10 laps to go in the stage he was fifth, but lost some track position to finish ninth in Stage Two.
- He came to pit road on lap 63 for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment.
Stage Three Recap:
- He was 11th to start the final 74-lap stage.
- Racing was tight and Jones was shuffled back to 15th, but a caution on lap 84 gave him the opportunity he needed to pit for right-side tires and a track bar adjustment to free up his Tundra.
- He was sixth when the race resumed on lap 90 and was up to fifth 20 laps later.
- While still in fifth, he radioed to the team that he felt like the engine was blowing up. Without wanting to do further damage, he came to pit road for the team to check under the hood. He was told his night was over, leaving him in 26th place.
Brandon Jones, driver of the No. 51 Delta Faucets/Menards Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports:
What happened that ended your race tonight?
“Kind of got pretty far back there – in the second stage we started to lose some track position and some people were really side drafting hard and pulling us back so we got buried a little bit in traffic. (Mike) Hillman (crew chief) made the right calls and we pitted for two tires and I know sometimes two tires can lose some races, but that got us our track position where we needed to be and kind of got our nose back in clean air. Going down the backstretch I saw the fuel pressure off a little there and we decided to come down and make sure nothing was getting destroyed with the motor. Hate it, really wanted to run well with these guys and really enjoyed my five races with KBM that we had and hopefully look forward to more in the future with them.”
World of Westgate 200 Recap:
- Grant Enfinger won the race followed by Johnny Sauter, Justin Haley, Ben Rhodes and Matt Crafton rounded out the top-five finishers.
- The race featured 11 cautions for a total of 47 laps. There were 21 lead changes among nine drivers. KBM’s Noah Gragson led 33 laps and Todd Gilliland led five.
How Jones’ KBM Teammates Fared:
- Todd Gilliland, driver of the No. 4 Toyota, finished 27th
- Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 18 Toyota, finished 18th
- Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 46 Toyota, finished 29th
NCWTS Owner Championship Standings:
The No. 51 team is eighth in the Truck Series Owner’s Championship Standings, 64 points out of first.
Next Race:
David Gilliland will be behind the wheel of the No. 51 Tundra when racing action resumes in three weeks on Saturday, Oct. 13 at Talladega Superspeedway. Live coverage of the race begins at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.
