Erik Jones will leave Bristol Motor Speedway victorious on Saturday in the Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300. Jones, who started the day in fourth, led 27 of the 300 circuits to capture his eighth career NASCAR XFINITY Series victory in the No. 20 Reser’s American Classic Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
“Yeah they are, it’s definitely a cool feeling to get any win here and a great start to the weekend again,” said Jones after the race. “Hoping to keep the momentum going tomorrow and have another good day and another good finish. It’s cool to win here, it’s a track every driver wants to win at and to have two of them is pretty special.”
The win did not come easy for the young driver. When stage one ended on lap 85, Jones sat third on the leaderboard. When stage two ended on lap 170, the Michigan native sat 11th on the leaderboard. They would get even further behind at one point as they were popped for speeding on lap 230. However, despite getting behind, the team made their way back towards the front of the field.
“Going for it. At that point in the race I think there was less than 20 (laps) to go and you have to do all you can to try to get to the lead,” Jones said on the restart with Blaney. “I knew clean air was important and we were quite a bit faster than 22 (Ryan Blaney) just to fire off and I guess just the track cooled down and we got some speed back in the car and we were able to get around him and get the lead and from there I think everyone was stuck on the bottom and we were able to hold them off. Awesome day and awesome to be in victory lane.”
Jones will try and use the victory as momentum in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol. The Michigan native will start 14th in the Food City 500.
Ryan Blaney, who led four different times for 61 laps, finished in the runner-up spot. Blaney started the afternoon in ninth and finished stage one sitting second on the race leaderboard behind Kyle Larson. He would also be sitting second behind stage two winner Daniel Hemric on lap 170.
“We weren’t very good on the short run,” Blaney said after a long afternoon. “We struggled the most there and I feel like that’s where their cars are really fast. The 20 and the 18 were super, super good on short runs and we needed about 25-30 laps and we could really get going and we put a big distance on those xguys, but I had to protect. We’re the leader and we know the bottom is dominant and I had to protect. I knew I pushed the issue with him. I knew he was close and I don’t blame him for not backing out at that time. You can’t do that, so I took a chance and we had some contact. Fortunately, we were able to get a restart in fourth and get to second and just couldn’t quite get close to make a run at him.”
Daniel Suarez rounded out the top three finishers in the Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol. Suarez will leave the 0.533-mile oval with his second top 10 finish through five starts this season.
Kyle Larson, who won the pole for Saturday’s event, led the most circuits of any driver in the 300-lap race. Larson in the No. 42 ENEOS Chevrolet led five different times for 181 laps. However, despite domaining the race in the first 229 laps, Larson will leave with a seventh-place finish.
Like race winner Erik Jones, Larson also got bitten by a pit road penalty. That happened on lap 270 for a commitment line violation. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular restarted at the tail of the field.
Elliott Sadler will continue leading the series standings by 16 points over William Byron. Justin Allgaier, Ryan Reed and Daniel Hemric round out the top five.
The race saw nine cautions for 85 laps. On lap 161, just prior to the conclusion of stage two, rain brought out the caution and forced NASCAR to display the red. After a 1 hour and 38 minute red flag, the field went back under caution and later green.
The series will head to Richmond International Raceway next weekend for the ToyotaCare 250. Coverage will begin on FOX Sports 1 at 12:30 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM Channel 90 will have the live radio broadcast.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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