In racing, your reputation is everything. And for young drivers working their way up the ladder in NASCAR, there is a fine line between being aggressive, and being a weapon. It seems the consensus in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series garage is that Conner Jones is quickly gaining the reputation of being a weapon.
The part-time driver of the No. 66 ThorSport Racing Ford F-150 has not been making friends, and that trend continued on Friday night in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
A week after Jones was called to the NASCAR hauler post-race at North Wilkesboro to address his aggressive driving, he made contact with Daniel Dye while battling for the 19th position late in the race at Charlotte. The move, which ultimately cut down a tire on Dye’s No. 43 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado, frustrated Dye, and led the driver to seek out Jones on pit road after the race.
Some frustration between Dye and Jones post-race. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/babfTxdAMm
— Noah Lewis (@Noah_Lewis1) May 25, 2024
After the conversation, Dye spoke about his relationship with Jones on the track.
“I’ve been racing him for a couple of years. A couple of Late Model races, some ARCA races, Truck races, and it’s clear you know who you’re racing. I really shouldn’t be surprised,” Dye stated with disappointment. “He just swiped at me down the backstretch. Fed me a pretty hard door. With these not being the bodies that are on the Xfinity and Cup cars, when they bend, they just sit on the tire. And I had a right front go flat just because he’s being aggressive for 19th.”
“He’s just been watching too many Dale Sr. Videos on YouTube,” Friday night Charlotte signaled the continuation of the trend of Conner Jones finding new ways to not make it onto people’s Christmas Cards list. This week, he doored @danieldye43 for 19th spot. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/F8AahrUQdf
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) May 25, 2024
As Dye limped home to a 20th-place finish, Jones was able to work his way up to a 12th-place finish, which actually turned into an 11th-place effort after runner-up finisher Corey Heim was disqualified in post-race inspection.
Jones got a decent finish, but it came at a price. And that price was the continued lack of respect within the garage area. Dye, who is young himself at 20-years-old, understands that Jones is still young and trying to find his path, but he needs to clean things up, and fast.
“He did the same thing and got called to the hauler last week,” Dye recalled. “It’s just tough when you’re racing with guys in the back. He’s young and trying to prove himself, but he’s been young and trying to prove himself for about four years now.”
After the chat with Jones, Dye felt that by the end of the talk that it was a waste of his time.
“He’s a hot head,” Dye explained. “He doesn’t really hear anything constructive, so it’s probably a waste of my time.”
Dye continued, “I don’t think he was very receptive. I just told him he can’t make contact with me anymore. It’s not even that he’s ran into me a lot, he has a couple of times, but it’s how much he does it to other people. I’m not going to take it.”
At the end of the day, Dye feels that Jones has been binging on too many old NASCAR highlights videos on the internet and isn’t understanding what it takes to be a respectful competitor on track.
“That’s a guy that thinks its cool to make contact with other cars. He’s just watched too many Dale Sr. YouTube videos, and that’s okay,” Dye said. “I would say I get it, [but] I really don’t. It’s not worth it. Whatever man, we’re racing. That’s not even like no respect, that’s just disrespect. And I feel like I try to race pretty respectful in the Truck Series.”
Eventually, Dye feels someone will put Jones in his place.
“Somebody is going to do it,” Dye stated emphatically. “As soon as he leaves ThorSport, and races something else and races Matt Crafton like that, Matt will take care of it. Hopefully he can race something else and Matt can send a memo.”
Another reason for Dye’s added frustration is that he’s trying to close in on a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff berth. Heading into Friday night’s race, Dye sat 12th in the championship standings, 17 points outside of the cutline. If Dye has any hope of pointing his way in, he can’t afford any mistakes, and he certainly can’t afford any mistakes from others.
And when the mistake comes from a driver, who has continued to make the same mistake to others for years, it becomes really, really frustrating.
