During the last NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Circuit of the Americas, there was one glaring absence from the entry list: ThorSport Racing’s part-time fifth truck, driven by Conner Jones.
Jones is running for Rookie of the Year this season, driving the No. 66 for ThorSport. He was behind the wheel of the same seat in 2023 for nine races of the No. 66’s 11-race schedule — the only other races for the entry were driven by Jake Drew, who finished 12th in his Truck Series debut at Nashville Superspeedway, and Joey Logano, who drove it to victory lane on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway.
However, Jones’ campaign for Rookie of the Year will be difficult, as he is only slated to run 14 of the 23-race schedule for 2024 — originally it was 13, but Jones and ThorSport added the spring Bristol race to his calendar. Unlike his competition, who will run the entire schedule, Jones will miss nine races in his official rookie season.
He has already missed Daytona International Speedway and COTA, and will miss the next race at Martinsville Speedway before returning at Texas Motor Speedway.
But why?
Is he full-time in another series? Nope. A look at Jones’ 2024 racing schedule will show he will spend a lot of time competing in late models and super late models, specifically racing in the CARS Tour and the ASA Stars National Tour, but he is not full-time in either series.
Well then surely he’s under 18 years of age and is ineligible to run certain tracks, right?
Wrong again. Jones turned 18 on Feb. 22. The only race he wouldn’t have been eligible to run this season was the season opener at Daytona, which took place a mere six days before his 18th birthday. And even if he was still under the age of 18, minors are allowed to compete on road courses like COTA.
So why isn’t Jones in the truck full-time to make a proper run at the ROTY title?
Surely, sponsorship is part of the problem. NASCAR is as sponsorship-driven as ever, and nowadays its more about the money you bring instead of the talent you bring. While Jones does bring sponsorship dollars (his father’s construction company, Jones Utilities Construction, funds most of his racing efforts), he likely doesn’t bring enough to justify a full season of racing without pulling in outside dollars.
Even still, if Jones declared for Rookie of the Year, nine races shouldn’t be that hard to find sponsorship for, even if one or two races have to be run out of…
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