In Defense of Buckshot Jones

In Defense of Buckshot Jones 

By Brian H Cotnoir

One of the coolest nicknames in NASCAR History, Roy "Buckshot" Jones.   Buckshot Jones took a rather unconventional road to NASCAR and managed to win races too.   However, just as it looked like he was about to racing dreams would come true, his meteoric rise through NASCAR came to screeching halt.

As I mentioned, Buckshot Jones rise through NASCAR was rather unconventional.  He began racing as a hobby while he was a student at the University of Georgia, where he earned a business degree.   Jones ran in the NASCAR Southeast Series in the 1992.   Jones and his father, Billy, came up with a six-year plan to start their own race team and become NASCAR Champions.  In 1994, Jones started in 19-out-of-21 races in the NASCAR Southeast Series.  He finished 16th in points.  Jones best finish in the NASCAR Southeast Series was a 5th place finish at Martinsville in 1995.

Throughout 1995 and 1996 Buckshot Jones made select starts in the NASCAR Busch Series.  During the 1996 season, Jones failed to qualify for five of the first ten races that season.  But that summer something remarkable would happen to Jones.  After starting an abysmal 32nd position at the summer race at the Milwaukee Mile, Jones fought his way through the field and on the last lap battle Busch Series Veteran, Mike McLaughlin and the two had a drag race down the front stretch, with Jones narrowly winning his first race.

In 1997 and 1998, Buckshot showed a lot of consistency on track.  He finished 7th and 9th in the drivers' standings and scored his second career win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway during the 1998 season. He was also named the Most Popular Busch Series driver for 1998 as well.  It was also during this time that Buckshot began making select starts in the NASCAR Cup Series too.  Like his early starts in the Busch Series, Buckshot failed to qualify for several races.  During the 2001 season he was hired to drive the #44 Dodge for Petty Enterprises.  In his only full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series Buckshot had 5 DNQ's, 1 DNS, and a season high finish of 16th at the fall Phoenix Race.  He finished an abysmal 41st in the Drivers' Standings.  The following season he failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 and would be let go by Petty Enterprises seven races later.  Buckshot Jones last NASCAR start was in the NASCAR Busch Series in 2004.

I think Buckshot Jones was a bit too ambitious with his NASCAR aspirations.   While he is far from a bust, I don't think he took the proper time to develop.   His Busch Series team was successful, and in fact won 2 more races with driver Todd Bodine during the 2001 season.  I think had Buckshot chose to run in the Busch Series full-time for another 3-4 seasons they would have been contending for wins and challenging for championships.   I truly believe Buckshot Racing could have been one of the last great independent teams in the NASCAR Busch Series had they stuck around longer.

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