NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview
Event: Buckle Up in Your Truck 225, Race 12 of 23, 150 Laps – 35/35/80; 225 Miles
Location: Kentucky Speedway in Sparta (1.5-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: July 12, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
What You Need to Know
- Jones has made 38 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) starts since 2013, resulting in nine top-five and 18 top-10 finishes. This will be his fourth NCWTS start for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM). Jones raced at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City where he finished ninth for the No. 51 team, Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway where he came in third place driving for the No. 46 team and Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet where he placed fifth in the No. 51. The Georgia native will make one more start for the No. 51 team this year on Sept. 14 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway
- KBM’s Mike Hillman Jr., was also Jones’ crew chief at Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series in 2016. Together the duo earned 12 top-10 finishes.
- He will do double duty this weekend racing the No. 51 Tundra for KBM Thursday night and the No. 19 Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing in the XFINITY race Friday
- Has 10 prior starts at Kentucky, five in XFINITY, three in NCWTS and two in the ARCA Racing Series. His best finish there was second in the NCWTS race last year. He finished one spot behind KBM’s Christopher Bell, who is now his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing.
- Jones will be sponsored by Soleus Air at Kentucky. SoleusNA is synonymous with quality. Their dedication to their products does not stop with industry-leading durability and reliability; they also spend a lot of time making sure their products look great and are easy-to-use. Keeping you comfortable in style with their line of feature-packed comfort products.
Brandon Jones, Driver Q&A
You have 10 races under your belt at Kentucky in various series. Does that give you more confidence heading into the weekend?
“Definitely, running at Kentucky as much as I have is one of the mile-and-a-halves I always target when I come to this track. I remember one year myself and Christopher Bell, when he was at KBM, we were battling back and forth forever and it was a one-two finish at the end of the day. I’ve had some close shots there and I think that with more knowledge now that I’ve got, it will be a really good weekend for us.”
How is Kentucky compared to the other 1.5-mile tracks?
“Kentucky is very different, honestly, compared to the other mile-and-halves that we go to. You have turns one and two which have a lot of banking in the corner and you can run flat-footed through there in the truck race. Then you go to three and four and there’s not a lot of banking at all and it’s very technical on that end. There is some braking involved. There are two very different corners, so in that sense it doesn’t compare as much as some of the other tracks do.”
How do you prepare for this stretch of very hot summer races?
“When it’s extremely hot like this in the summer it’s very hard to prepare for the races. There are some things I try to do for myself such as eating a lot of fruits that have water in them throughout the whole entire week, drinking the Pedialyte we all do and a couple other things and a lot of water, obviously. I try to start Monday and hopefully I’m prepared by Friday whenever I get to the race track.”
Brandon Jones Career Highlights
- Currently competes full time in the NASCAR XFINITY Series for Joe Gibbs Racing where he has one pole, two top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 16 starts this season
- Picked up his fifth career ARCA Racing Series victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May
- Has one NASCAR K&N Pro Series East win (Iowa Speedway, 2014)
Brandon Jones’ No. 51 Soleus Air/Menards Tundra:
KBM-050: The No. 51 team will race KBM-050, for Thursday’s race at Kentucky Speedway. Kyle Busch won in this Tundra at Las Vegas in March and finished second in it at Charlotte in May.
KBM Notes of Interest
- KBM drivers have collected four wins, 672 laps led, 12 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 9.4 across 22 starts at Kentucky
- Driver-owner Kyle Busch claimed two of KBM’s victories in the Bluegrass state (2011 and 2014) along with William Byron (2016) and Christopher Bell (2017)
- After Jones’ fifth-place finish at Chicago, the No. 51 team has one win (Kyle Busch) and two poles (Kyle Busch and Harrison Burton), five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. The team is ranked fourth in the owner’s championship standings.
- KBM holds the NCWTS records for most career wins (67) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). In addition to collecting a series-record six Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers; Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
