Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
TOYOTA NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
Matt Crafton & Erik Jones – Notes & Quotes
Texas Motor Speedway – November 5, 2015
Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Erik Jones and ThorSport Racing driver Matt Crafton were made available to the media at Texas Motor Speedway:
ERIK JONES, No. 4 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
What are you expectations for the next three weekends?
“Need to do a lot better job than we’ve done the last week at Martinsville and then really at Chicago before that, so I think these next three tracks coming up for – here at Texas we were fast in the spring, in Phoenix we’ve been fast there always and I think they’ll be a lot better off for us, so we’ll see. I think we can definitely go out and contend for a win here the next three weeks really and just see how it all plays out.”
Have you met with crew chief Jason Ratcliff about possibly driving the No. 20 Camry in the NSCS this weekend?
“No, I haven’t. We’re just waiting to see what happens here with the appeals process in a few hours and see where it goes from there, but, you know, obviously the truck and the XFINITY car are my main focus. That’s what I know I’m doing coming into this weekend, so if that were to happen obviously I’m going to do the best I can for them and just to keep them in contention and hopefully have a good race for them. But we’ll just see what all happens there and obviously we’ll go into the truck race here first this weekend and try to fire off and get ourselves back to where we need to be in that series.”
Is it more difficult having to battle Matt Crafton, a two-time champion?
“You know, being in this situation I guess is a new experience for me at this level at least. I’ve done it in the Late Model stuff and I’ve done it on the owner’s championship side of things, but obviously the 88 team and Matt (Crafton) and Tyler (Reddick) have been running well the last few weeks and gained points back up on us that we had made up, so we just need to make sure we’re doing all that we can every week to get out and run as well as we can and just go out and get good finishes. Like I said, I feel like Martinsville was definitely going to be a rough one for us and it was. It didn’t work out how we wanted it to, so we’ll go into this weekend and the next few with definitely high hopes that these tracks have been good to us in the past and not only good to me at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports), but KBM in general, so hopefully we can come out of here with some strong runs and maintain this point lead.”
What are you looking forward to doing in the offseason that you can’t do in the regular season?
“Sleep. It seems like it’s been busy here the last few weeks especially for me – just been kind of running around and trying to do a lot of things in a lot of different directions, so it’d be nice to just get some rest and for me be home in Michigan. I haven’t been home in quite a while.”
Does it ease your mind knowing you’ve filled in driving in the NSCS twice previously?
“Bristol was, I think, a tough situation for everybody never being in a Cup car altogether and then I was really comfortable at Kansas. I was pretty happy with the way things were going up to the point that I lost it, but running up in the top-10 and being competitive and being in contention definitely gave me a lot of confidence for the next opportunity that I get whether it be this weekend of whether it be in a year or two years or whatever it may be. I definitely feel confident in myself to be able to go out and do a good job.”
What would it mean to you win to win the NCWTS championship with regards to Joe Gibbs Racing’s plans for you?
“Well, for me, honestly more than winning it for myself, just giving back to KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) – the whole organization – for Kyle (Busch, team owner), you know? Obviously, I want to win the championship, but Kyle’s wanted a driver’s championship since he started his program in the Truck Series and hasn’t been able to get it with a few drivers, so if I could bring that back for him, you know, that’d kind of be just a nice thank you for the last three years and what he’s done for me over those three years. So, obviously we all want to win it as an organization and I want to win it as well. It’s nice to know what we’re doing next year, but for me to have a Truck Series championship and know that we can have the opportunity to get an XFINITY Series championship next year, it’d be nice to have both of those series championships. There’s only a few guys that have been able to win in both those series, so for me it’s kind of the stats thing. You always want to be able to look back at those stats and getting that championship trophy would just be kind of one of the cool steps in my career that I would be able to be able to hopefully accomplish.”
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Damp Rid/Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
What are your goals coming off a win?
“We just have to get doing the same thing we’ve been here the last couple of months and just not have any bad luck. Honestly, we’ve all three (Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick and Crafton) had very, very fast trucks and I’ve had horrendous luck and led a lot laps the last few races and hopefully the best man wins at the end.”
What are you looking forward to doing in the offseason that you can’t do in the regular season?
“I’m just going out to the desert and, like I said, have no cell phone service. That’s probably one of the greatest things and don’t have to be bothered and get to just go play with the sand car and have fun.”
Are you interested in moving to the NSCS and do NCWTS teams test in the wind tunnel?
“I’m very happy doing what I’m doing. As long as I can be competitive, I wouldn’t want to go run in any other series and run 20th to 43rd – that’s just not me. There’s a reason why I’ve stayed in the Camping World Truck Series – it’s great racing. I think any race fan would believe in saying the same thing. If you want to watch a great race on Friday night or Saturday, you’re going to watch a Truck race, so that’s huge in my part and it’s not just about the money. It’s about knowing you can win races and Duke and Rhonda Thorson (team owners) and Menards has been with me a long time and I’m very happy there. Wind tunnel testing – yeah, we definitely – all of our mile-and-a-half trucks go in the wind tunnel, and, like I said, we work on all that. I’m sure each and every team in the top-15 does the same thing.”
What have you thought of Cameron Hayley and is he returning to ThorSport Racing in 2016?
“I have no idea what their plans are for 2016. Cameron’s (Hayley) done a very, very good job. He had a lot of speed at the beginning of the year, but now he’s been able to put races together and that’s very good to see for that whole group with the 13 group and ThorSport and Duke and Rhonda (team owners) and Cameron and them. Like I said, they’re finally executing and finishing races where they should.”
Does your experience give you a competitive advantage?
“I’m not worried about it. Like I said, I’m just going to go into the next three races and try to lead the most laps and win the race and I know how it was trying to win my first championship and, like I said, just sleepless nights and when you’re the points leader and you – I said, you’re going, ‘What can go wrong? What? Can I make a mistake,’ and I said, ‘It’s his championship to lose and ours to win right now,’ and he’s got to be on defense and all we’ve got to do is play offense and try not to make any mistakes and he’s got to do the same thing. We all do and we just can’t have any bad luck.”
What challenges are there filling in for a driver in a hurry like you did for Kyle Busch at Daytona in February?
“It’s not honestly as nerve-racking as you’d think and whenever I got the call – I think it was on Saturday night at about 7 o’clock and I didn’t have time to think about anything. I just went straight to JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and sat in some seat inserts. I’m sure at least he has his own seat insert to be able to fit in the seat. I sat literally in Kyle’s (Busch) – I couldn’t fit a seat insert into his seat that would fit me and that was one of my biggest problems running the 500 miles in somebody else’s seat. I remember at the end of the race, my back was hurting so, so bad, but we’re race car drivers – we adapt to the situation. Like I said, this has been Erik’s (Jones) dream I’m sure to race in Sprint Cup. I’m sure it’s definitely not the opportunity he wanted to get here, but – same way with me running the Daytona 500. Definitely, I’ve always wanted to say I ran the Daytona 500, but I didn’t want to say I did it for my buddy that was hurt for sure.”
