Erik Jones Tag

By Lee Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SPARTA, Kentucky – Martin Truex Jr. didn’t need a dress rehearsal to put on a pole-winning performance at Kentucky Speedway on Friday. His lack of mock qualifying runs in practice did not affect the ultimate result – his first Busch Pole on the 1.5-mile track. The defending winner of the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart executed the fastest lap in Round 3 to win the pole for Saturday night’s race at the 1.5-mile track (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). ForRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer  SPARTA, Ky. – By virtue of his win at Daytona International Speedway, Erik Jones is now locked into the 2018 Playoffs. However, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver will still have to contend with “the big three”: Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and defending champion Martin Truex, Jr., all of whom have dominated the season so far. Jones and his No. 20 Freightliner Toyota Camry team have only earned 39 Stage Points this season. He is 16thamong drivers that have earned Stage Points, with hisRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a trip down to Daytona Beach, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is just past the halfway mark of the 2018 season as they head up to Kentucky Speedway for race No. 19 on the schedule, under the lights on Saturday night for the running of the Quaker State 400. Kentucky first joined the Cup Series schedule in 2011 and has played host ever since, with just four different drivers claiming victory in the seven races held at the track so far. The track wasRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In a wild war of attrition that went to two overtimes, Erik Jones outdueled Martin Truex Jr. on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway to seize the first victory of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career. In a Coke Zero Sugar 400 that went eight laps beyond its scheduled 160, Jones passed the reigning series champion on the backstretch of the final lap and held on to win by .125 seconds. Jones battled back from damage sustained in a multicarRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer JOLIET, Ill.— Erik Jones recorded his second-best finish of the 2018 season, bringing home a sixth-place result in Sunday’s Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. It was the second straight top-10 result for the 22-year-old driver after finishing seventh at Sonoma Raceway last weekend. With Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. combining to win 13 of the first 17 races of the season, many positions in the Playoffs will go to drivers that haven’t visited victory lane this season. After Chicagoland, only nine racesRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – Using a contrarian strategy that included bluffing Kevin Harvick onto pit road earlier than planned in the final stage of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, Martin Truex Jr. pulled off a convincing victory in the 16th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. On Lap 73, during the final stage of the race, Truex’s crew chief, Cole Pearn, ordered the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota to pit road. On the spur of the moment, Harvick’s crew chief, Rodney Childers, optedRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — Second a year ago, winner this time around for 23-year-old Will Rodgers, who beat Aric Almirola by 4.420 seconds to score his second NASCAR K&N Pro Series West win of the season in Saturday’s Carneros 200 at Sonoma Raceway. On the final restart with 14 laps to go, the pole sitter made the pitch perfect move to get by Almirola in Turn 11, and dethroned the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regulars in the process. “That pass really came down to theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The first five races of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West were all contested at tracks that are 1/2 mile or less. That’ll change Saturday as 31 cars are scheduled to compete in the Carneros 200 at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. It’s the tour’s only road course of the season, and certainly a wild card on the series calendar. More so that five Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers are added into the mix. The five are Hendrick Motorsports drivers Alex Bowman and WilliamRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After last weekend’s race at Pocono saw Martin Truex, Jr. score his second win of the season, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Michigan to race on one of the biggest and fastest tracks on the circuit, Michigan International Speedway, in Sunday’s running of the FireKeepers Casino 400. With this race taking place near the home of two of the three manufacturers (Chevrolet and Ford), teams put extra emphasis on winning this race for bragging rights. The two-mile speedway tends to favor the teamsRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Following an early morning rain storm, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series had just one practice session on Saturday morning to complete their preparations for NASCAR’s longest night, the Coca-Cola 600. When all was said and done, Joe Gibbs Racing’s sophomore driver, Erik Jones, led the way in his Toyota with a lap of 28.870 seconds, 187.045 mph, around Charlotte Motor Speedway. Kyle Larson clocked in second, 0.059 seconds behind Jones on the time sheet. Jones also had the fastest 10-lap average inRead More