Gardiner team hoping for strong finish

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Des Moines, Iowa native Eric Jones is 29th in points in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series.

What’s so special about that?

The man who drives for Team EJP (E.J. Prescott), which is based in Gardiner, has run only five of the 17 races.

Due to a lack of sponsorship money, Team EJP has been able to run only a limited schedule.

But they will run five of the final eight races beginning with Saturday’s New Hampshire 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

“This is a big week for Team EJP,” said Jones. “This is the closest the truck series gets [to us]. I’m really looking forward to it.”

There is a lot at stake between now and the end of the season for Jones and Team EJP.

“We’d like to find a sponsor to help with the bills for next year. We’d like to run the full schedule,” said the 26-year-old Jones.

Strong performances in their final five races would certainly enhance their chances of locking up sponsorship.

Jones is part of a three-man crew that also includes crew chief Tom Pearl and Pittsfield’s Adam Ross. Their race shop is in Gardiner.

“We all do a little bit of everything,” explained Jones.

He said having just two other team members has resulted in a healthy camaraderie and they enjoy the “family-run atmosphere.

“It has been better than I expected. We have a good time. In this sport, you’ve got to have fun. And we keep getting better. Hopefully, we can run a full season next year and make a run at a top five or the points championship,” Jones said.

In their five races to date, they haven’t finished any lower than 18th. Their average finish is 13.6.

Their top finish was a sixth at the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 in Kansas. They also have 11th, 16th, 17th and 18th-place finishes.

“We’ve had a lot of bad luck,” said Jones. “We had a couple of engines go bad. We had a truck capable of running in the top three at Charlotte (16th) and Texas (11th) but the engines went sour.

“We decided to go with Hutter engines after that,” added Jones.

Jones began racing go-karts when he was eight and progressed up the ladder.

“I’ve run in the truck series for a few years, I’ve had five Busch Grand National races and I’ve raced in ARCA,” said Jones.

He had a Busch Grand National ride lined up “but it didn’t fall into place” so he wound up in the truck series.

“The truck series is a great spot for a young guy to learn right now,” said Jones noting several Winston Cup drivers came through the truck series.

They will take two trucks to Loudon this weekend and they will hire a Winston Cup crew to handle their pit stops.

“This is our biggest race. We’re pretty well prepared. Hopefully, we’ll come out with a top 10,” said Jones.

The team will also race in Las Vegas, Texas, Arizona and Florida following the Loudon event.

Jones, who joined the team in February, said he has adapted to the Maine weather.

“The climate isn’t a whole lot different than Iowa. It stays colder quite a bit longer in Maine. But the summers are beautiful,” said Jones.

Santerre hopes to pad points lead

Cherryfield’s Andy Santerre will attempt to move closer to his second straight Busch North series points championship with a strong showing at the New Hampshire 125, which will following the 1 p.m. NASCAR Craftsman Truck series race on Saturday.

Santerre has a comfortable 163-point lead over runner-up Mike Stefanik of Coventry, R.I. with Scarborough’s Kelly Moore seven points behind Stefanik.

Moore’s son, Ryan, is ninth in points and is leading the rookie points and the only other Maine driver in the top 20 is Carey Heath of Eliot, the only woman regular. She is 15th.

Heath drives for the Aubuchon Hardware team that also sponsors Santerre.

There will be just three more Busch North races following the New Hampshire 125.

There will be a Friday race on the schedule at NHIS as the Featherlite Modified Series will run the New Hampshire 100 at approximately 4:30.

The Featherlite Modified race will follow Winston Cup qualifying for Sunday afternoon’s Sylvania 300. Qualifying begins at 3:05 p.m. Friday.

The race will begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday.