Brandon Jones Opens Pocono Triple with Truck Series Win

Brandon Jones with the checkered flag and trophy
NASCAR photo by Jared C. Tilton

(LONG POND, PA - JUNE 28, 2020 - RIS) The Pocono triple-header opening race went to Brandon Jones for his career-first Truck Series win, a mark he also set for his entire crew. The race was delayed a day after persistent weather problems on Saturday forced the race to be delayed until Sunday morning. Jones had to dash from his truck to the Xfinity garage, where his car waited for a seventh-place finish.

The early laps of Sunday's rain-delayed Pocono Organics 150 NASCAR Gander Mountain Truck Series race went two for two - two wrecks in the first two green flag laps, with the first one eliminating Cody Rohrbaugh and Matt Crafton in the first turn, then Austin Wayne Self and Raphael Lessard tangling in the third turn of the tricky triangle. Thanks to the cleanup, the second incident brought out the red flag briefly. In a TV interview, Lessard admitted that it was his error as he watched a replay and changed his story while watching the video.

The restart saw Ty Majeski, last year's ARCA winner at Pocono move into third place, then a lap later, make contact with Grant Enfinger and spin, bringing out yet a third caution that resulted in a second red flag.

Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill went back and forth for the few turns until the end of the first stage with Creed ahead by about a length at the green and white checkered, with Tyler Ankrum third, Brandon Jones fourth and Todd Gilliland fifth at the fifteen-lap stage end.

Brennan Poole's slap into the wall with a flag right front brought out the yellow again, with less than ten laps to run in the second stage, then Jordan Anderson's spin with two to run in the stage caused yet another caution to end the stage, with Creed still leading.

On the restart, Zane Smith led the field, but another caution flew for contact between Tanner Gray and Tate Fogleman when Gray slipped into Gray, sending the Durham, NC rookie into the Turn Two outside wall.

Eckes and Brandon Jones made most of the last stage a Kyle Busch Motorsports show, with Eckes holding a steady led over Jones, followed by Austin Hill after Hill gave up a stage finish for a pit stop. 

Then Eckes blew the right rear tire, spinning out of the lead with eleven laps to go with Jones inheriting the lead from his teammate, Hill second, Creed third and Gilliland and Rhodes filling out the top five under the caution.

Austin Hill moved into the lead on the restart with Jones in pursuit and moving to the inside to retake the position until Tim Viens' Turn One spin and stall caused a record-tie ninth caution that lasted until the two laps to go restart with Hill and Jones side by side then Sheldon Cree splitting the formation to drive into the lead until Jones moved around the outside at Start/Finish with Creed getting loose and conceding the win to Creed for his first career victory.

Unofficial Results, 11th Annual Pocono Organics 150 to benefit Farm Aid
Fin, Str, Driver, Trk, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 10, Brandon Jones(i), No. 51 DuPont Air Filtration/Menards Toyota, 60, 4, , 2, 11, , 0, Running
2) 3, Austin Hill, No. 16 Touota Tsusho Toyota, 60, 2, , , , , 44, Running
3) 2, Sheldon Creed, No. 2 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet, 60, 1, 1, 2, 31, 2, 54, Running
4) 8, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Crosley Brands Ford, 60, 5, , , , , 39, Running
5) 6, Ben Rhodes, No. 99 Tenda Ford, 60, 10, 3, , , , 41, Running
6) 16, Ross Chastain(i), No. 40 iRacing Chevrolet, 60, 9, , 1, 1, , 0, Running
7) 9, Brett Moffitt, No. 23 Chevy Cares Chevrolet, 60, , 8, , , , 33, Running
8) 20, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar Racing To Beat Hunger Toyota, 60, , 4, , , , 36, Running
9) 11, Tyler Ankrum, No. 26 Liuna! Chevrolet, 60, 3, 6, , , , 41, Running
10) 13, Derek Kraus #, No. 19 NAPA AUTOCARE Toyota, 60, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 5, Grant Enfinger, No. 98 FarmPaint.com/Curb Records Ford, 60, 6, , , , , 31, Running
12) 15, Tanner Gray #, No. 15 Ford Performance Ford, 60, , 5, , , , 31, Running
13) 1, Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Vivitar Ford, 60, 7, , , , , 28, Running
14) 7, Zane Smith #, No. 21 LaPaz Margarita Mix Chevrolet, 60, 8, 7, 2, 7, , 30, Running
15) 40, Parker Kligerman, No. 75 Food Country USA/Lucks Beans Chevrolet, 60, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 21, Bayley Currey, No. 44 N29 Capital Partners Chevrolet, 60, , 9, , , , 23, Running
17) 32, Jordan Anderson, No. 3 Bommarito.com/Fueled by Fans Chevrolet, 60, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 27, Spencer Davis #, No. 11 Bear Coolers/Jones Demo and Abatement Toyota, 60, , 10, , , , 20, Running
19) 30, Tyler Hill, No. 56 Hill Motorsports Chevrolet, 60, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 33, Robby Lyons II, No. 97 Sunwest Construction Chevrolet, 60, , , , , , 0, Running
21) 12, Chase Purdy, No. 24 BAMABUGGIES.com Chevrolet, 60, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 31, Spencer Boyd, No. 20 Kong Beer Bong Chevrolet, 60, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 28, Josh Reaume, No. 00 MSG Toyota, 60, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 26, Korbin Forrister, No. 7 Pruitt Healthcare Toyota, 60, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 24, Cory Roper, No. 04 CarQuest Ford, 60, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 38, Bryan Dauzat, No. 28 FDNY/American Genomies Chevrolet, 60, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 36, Ray Ciccarelli, No. 49 CMI Motorsports Chevrolet, 60, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 25, Jesse Iwuji, No. 33 Reaume Brothers Racing Toyota, 60, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 37, Tim Viens(i), No. 83 CMI Motorsports Chevrolet, 59, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 39, Norm Benning, No. 6 H & H Transport Chevrolet, 59, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 35, Clay Greenfield, No. 68 Rackley Roofing Toyota, 58, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 34, Jennifer Jo Cobb, No. 10 Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet, 54, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 4, Christian Eckes #, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota, 48, , 2, 1, 10, , 14, Accident
34) 22, Tate Fogleman #, No. 02 Solid Rock Carriers Chevrolet, 34, , , , , , 5, Accident
35) 29, Brennan Poole(i), No. 30 RememberEveryoneDeployed.org Toyota, 23, , , , , , 0, DVP
36) 19, Ty Majeski #, No. 45 Niece Chevrolet, 11, , , , , , 5, Accident
37) 14, Raphael Lessard #, No. 4 SiriusXM Toyota, 5, , , , , , 5, Accident
38) 23, Austin Wayne Self, No. 22 GO TEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet, 5, , , , , , 5, Accident
39) 17, Codie Rohrbaugh, No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet, 0, , , , , , 5, Accident
40) 18, Matt Crafton, No. 88 Great Lakes Flooring/Menards Ford, 0, , , , , , 5, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 60 laps, 150 miles
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 35 Mins, 40 Secs.
Average Speed: 94.077 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.864 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 2, 16, 26, 51, 38, 98, 13, 21, 40, 99
Stage 2 Top 10: 2, 18, 99, 52, 15, 26, 21, 23, 44, 11

Race Comments: Brandon Jones won the Pocono Organics 150 at Pocono Raceway, his first NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series victory.

Prior to the start, the following truck dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: No. 44 (driver change).

Caution Flags: 9 for 29 laps;
Laps: 2-5 (No. 9, No. 88 Incident Turn 1 [None]);
7-9 (No. 4, No. 22 Incident Turn 3 [Red Flag - 8:19] [None]);
13-14 (No. 45, No. 98 Incident Frontstretch [Red Flag - 7:13] [None]);
17-19 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]);
24-26 (No. 30 Incident Turn 3 [None]);
29-33 (No. 3 Spin Turn 1 [10]);
36-38 (No. 02, No. 15 Incident Turn 2 [10]);
50-52 (No. 18 Incident Turn 2 [33]);
56-58 (No. 83 Spin Turn 1 [49]).

Lead Changes: 8 among 5 drivers;
J. Sauter 0;
S. Creed 1-30;
Z. Smith # 31-32;
R. Chastain(i) 33;
Z. Smith # 34-38;
C. Eckes # 39-48;
B. Jones(i) 49-58;
S. Creed 59;
B. Jones(i) 60.

Cometic Gasket:  Johnny Sauter, No. 13

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race:  Brandon Jones, No. 51

Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  Derek Kraus, No. 19

 

Austin Hill leads the point standings by 51 points over Ben Rhodes.

John Davison

Long-time RIS staffer, beginning in the mid-80s. Charlotte, NC area local contact.

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Volume 2020, Issue 6, Posted 3:15 PM, 06.28.2020