NASCAR Truck Series at Canada 2015 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

Erik Jones had the race won before a late caution brought the field to his back bumper. Luckily, the 19-year-old is wise beyond his years.

Jones held off Matt Crafton to earn his second win of the 2015 Truck Series season at the Chevrolet Silverado 250 on Sunday. The No. 4 truck opened a 1.666-second lead over Crafton in the final two laps, cruising past the start-finish line at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario. 

“It’s so awesome to get a road-course win in only my second road-course start" Jones said, per Jerry Bonkowski of NBC Sports. "We raced hard and hopefully we put on a good show.”    

Alex Tagliani had pushed Jones down the stretch, even opening up a brief lead before losing a gear on the final lap. Tagliani wound up finishing in fifth place, more than three seconds behind Jones. Ben Kennedy came in third, and Daniel Hemric wound up fourth to round out the top five.

Position	Driver
1	Erik Jones
2	Matt Crafton
3	Ben Kennedy
4	Daniel Hemric
5	Alex Tagliani
6	Johnny Sauter
7	Cameron Hayley
8	Spencer Gallagher
9	John Hunter Nemechek
10	Cole Custer

“I think I had a shot but (Jones) kind of shut the door,” Tagliani said, per Bonkowski. “The third gear broke on the last straight and that was it.”

The win for Jones moves him into first place in the point standings, three points ahead of Crafton. Jones, Crafton and Tyler Reddick came into Sunday's race within seven points of one another, with Reddick leading the way.

Unfortunately, the Brad Keselowski Racing vehicle had a late-race mishap that might wind up costing Reddick the title. He crashed into the tire barriers on the race's fifth caution and wound up finishing two laps down in 19th. He is now 15 points behind Jones for the points lead.

Xfinity Racing captured the scene:

Overall, Jones, Cole Custer, Cameron Hayley and Tagliani dominated the race. The foursome led 62 of the race's 64 laps, spearheaded by a race-high 22 by Custer. The No. 00 truck wound up in a disappointing 10th-place finish after colliding with Tagliani and spinning out. He was never quite able to recover from the incident and wound up in the middle of the pack.

Hayley led a good portion of the race early on before finishing seventh. It's his best career finish on the Canadian road course, which tends to be a major challenge in the Truck Series.

Place	Driver	Points
1	Erik Jones	590
2	Matt Crafton	587
3	Tyler Reddick	575
4	Johnny Sauter	535
5	Daniel Hemric	500
6	Cameron Hayley	489
7	Timothy Peters	470
8	John Wes Townley	466
9	Spencer Gallagher	452
10	Ben Kennedy	451

Still, the main story of the afternoon is Jones, who is quickly emerging as one of the rising talents in motorsports. Having just turned 19 in May, Jones is in his first full-time season running for Kyle Busch Motorsports, and it appears it may be his only one. Jones has already picked up two victories on the Xfinity series in part-time action and made his Sprint Cup debut earlier this year.

"We look at Erik as a big part of our future," Joe Gibbs, who owns Jones' Xfinity ride, said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this month (h/t Jared Turner of Fox Sports). "We've got a plan laid out. The plan next year would be a full Xfinity season and try to run for a championship there and also, in all likelihood, have him in some Cup races. That would be the goal for next year."

To put it another way: Truck fans better enjoy Jones while he lasts because he won't be there long. And with performances like Sunday, which show Jones' ability to drive on all courses, it's hard to blame Gibbs and Co. for wanting to move up this rising star as fast as possible.

We'll just have to see if he can now hold on to that points lead he's built.