Erik Jones wins shortened truck race plagued by power outages
As strange races go, they don't get much stranger than Friday night's Lucas Oil 150 Camping World Truck Series race at Phoenix International Raceway.
After the start of the race was delayed more than an hour by a widespread power outage in the area surrounding the track, power was restored and all systems appeared to be a go before the power went out again with 25 laps of the scheduled 150-lap distance still remaining.
NASCAR called the race official on the next lap, with 24 laps remaining and the field under a red flag.
Pole-sitter Erik Jones, who dominated the event in his Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota, was out front when the lights went out and notched his fourth career truck win at the same track where he earned his first career victory exactly one year ago.
While the power came back on within 10 minutes of going out for the final time, NASCAR decided to call the race out of a safety concern that the power might go out again with trucks on track.
The decision left several drivers -- including second-place finisher and championship leader Matt Crafton, and highest-finishing rookie Tyler Reddick -- frustrated that NASCAR didn't attempt to complete the scheduled race distance once the lights came back on.
"It's a damn shame that the lights went out because it was going to be exciting -- I promise you -- on the next restart," said Crafton, who extended his series lead over fourth-place finisher Ryan Blaney to 25 points with only next week's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway remaining on the schedule.
Reddick, who was scored 10th in the final rundown, was even more vocal in questioning the decision not to attempt to restart the race once the lights came back on.
"I'm just kind of curious as to why we waited an hour to get the race going and then call it five minutes after we get the lights back up," said Reddick, a Brad Keselowski Racing driver. "I'm kind of surprised it was over so quick, and it's only 10 o'clock (local time). It's alright. I was fine with waiting all night to get the race going, and I'm just curious to why they were so eager to end it right there."
Jones, who led 114 of the 126 laps, brushed off Crafton's suggestion that completing the full race distance might have changed the outcome.
"I felt pretty confident about it," Jones said. "I think we would have been able to definitely hold him off. I felt like we had by far the best truck."
VIDEO: The lights go out and the party is over in Friday's Camping World Truck Series race at Phoenix
Jones scoffed at his fellow competitors' disapproval of NASCAR's move to call the race early.
"Let's go racing right now," he said during post-race interviews. "I'm ready to go. We can finish it out. I don't see any reason why we couldn't go out and stay out front and bring home the win."
The victory continued what has already been a stellar weekend for Jones, whom it was announced Thursday will move into a full-time truck with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2015 after partial schedules this season and last season. It was also announced Thursday that the 18-year-old driver will run a part-time Xfinity Series schedule next year for Joe Gibbs Racing. Jones is scheduled to make his third career start for JGR in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at PIR.
"It's been a pretty fantastic weekend so far, I'd say, and I'd just love to keep it going tomorrow," he said.
The race was slowed seven times for cautions, including four in the first 42 laps. The fourth caution of the race, triggered by a Joey Coulter wreck in Turn 3, brought out the red flag for 3 minutes, 45 seconds.
VIDEO: Timothy Peters suffers heavy damage in wreck
