NASCAR Notes: Kyle Busch Motorsports lays out Truck plans for 2014 - MotorSportsTalk

Sprint Cup star Kyle Busch may have had to shut down his Nationwide Series operation, but his Camping World Truck Series side is still raring to go for 2014.

While Busch has already said that he and 17-year-old Erik Jones would split time in the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra that won last year’s CWTS owner’s championship, the exact details of that hadn’t been revealed until very recently.

Jones, who became the youngest winner in CWTS history last fall at Phoenix International Raceway, will drive a 12-race schedule this year in the No. 51 that begins with the March 29 event at Martinsville Speedway.

That victory was part of Jones’ tremendous 2013 season, which also saw him take two of the top late model races in the country – the Winchester 400 at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway and the Snowball Derby at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway. He also earned his first career win in the ARCA series last August (Berlin, Mich.).

“I’m really looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the No. 51 Tundra and representing Toyota and [sponsor] ToyotaCare,” Jones said in a team release.

“I really learned a lot last year from Kyle and everyone at KBM. I felt like each time out we all grew as a team and at the end of the season I was able to fulfill a lifelong dream by winning in one of NASCAR’s top three divisions. Going into this season, I feel like we have a great chance to get back to victory lane and go out and defend our Owner’s Championship.”

As for Busch, he will be in the No. 51 for 10 races, including the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday night, Feb. 21.

“Rowdy” earned five CWTS wins in 11 starts last year, including the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway that enabled the No. 51 to take the CWTS owner’s title on a tie-breaker over Matt Crafton’s No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota.

Darrell Wallace Jr. is already confirmed to drive KBM’s sister truck, the No. 54 Toyota Tundra.

—

More sponsor news has come in from Front Row Motorsports, which will welcome back transportation company CSX for a four-race swing as primary sponsor on David Ragan’s No. 34 Ford Fusion in Sprint Cup.

CSX will enjoy primary status on the No. 34 at the Daytona 500, Darlington, the August race at Michigan, and the September race at Richmond. The company will also be what the team calls a “major associate” sponsor at Pocono in August and Charlotte in October.

Ragan won last year’s spring race at Talladega Superspeedway with primary sponsorship from FarmRich Foods. They too will be back with the No. 34 this season, serving as its primary sponsor for the Phoenix race on March 2.

Follow @estradawriting

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

Read more about SuperMotocross