Erik Jones captures Xfinity Series win at Iowa Speedway
NEWTON, Iowa — Finally, Erik Jones found Victory Lane at Iowa Speedway.
A late surge by the 20-year-old driver from Byron, Mich., enabled him to close out Saturday’s U.S. Cellular 250 and celebrate with crew chief Christopher Gabehart.
It was Jones’ first win in four trips to Newton as part of the Xfinity Series, where promising starts had previously ended in frustration.
“Definitely cool to finally put it all together,” Jones said. “As much as I like Iowa and as much as I like coming here, it’s cool to finally get a win.
“I definitely felt like we had this one marked down.”
Jones, who now has three top-10 finishes at the Iowa Speedway, led 105 of the first 109 laps. But he found himself trailing Ty Dillon with less than 20 laps remaining.
With one pivotal push on lap No. 234, Jones took control of the race again.
“It’s no strategy,” Jones said. “(Dillon) was doing a really good job kind of blocking me and making me burn my tires up a little bit.
“I kind of conserved, and then charged for the last 50 laps or so.”
Dillon, who ended up second, was visibly upset after missing a chance to notch his first triumph in two years.
“I was trying so hard to try and keep him back there,” Dillon said of Jones, “try and take the air off him.
“We kind of got strung out and he was able to run me down.”
Dillon has not finished first in an Xfinity Series race since July 24, 2014 at Indianapolis.
“There’s been so many highs and lows every race since then,” he said. “I felt it tonight. We were so close.
“If we keep running like this, it’s going to happen.”
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Jones won the pole for an Xfinity race at Newton back in June, but finished 27th after having difficulties with his car.
That disappointment came a week after his father, Dave, died following brief battle with cancer.
“It’s the first NASCAR win I’ve gotten that he’s not here for,” Jones said Saturday. “In a way, it’s special to get back to Victory Lane without him.
“I know he’s riding along with us.”
Daniel Suarez won the pole this time around, but it didn’t take long for Jones to move in front of the pack.
He was still ahead when Darrell Wallace Jr. hit the wall and spun out, causing the day’s first caution.
Wallace was part of two mishaps that would lead to yellow flags.
There was a total of six cautions covering 29 laps.
Suarez talked earlier in the day about how he felt comfortable on the track in Newton, but he lost too much time on pit stops.
He eventually dropped out because of damage to his car.
Joey Gase of Cedar Rapids made a solid showing by finishing in 24th place.
Gase was 30th coming out of qualifying, but had to start from the back row after fixing an oil leak.
He eventually worked his way up to 28th place on the 77th lap, was 27th by the 127th lap and 26th on the 144th.
“I think we could have had a little bit better finish if we didn’t have to start dead last… But we’ll take it,” Gase said. “The car was great tonight and hopefully we can keep on improving off of that.”
Results
(Starting position in parentheses)
1. (2) Erik Jones, Toyota, 250.
2. (15) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 250.
3. (4) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 250.
4. (25) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 250.
5. (3) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 250.
6. (7) Sam Hornish Jr., Chevrolet, 250.
7. (11) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 250.
8. (5) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 250.
9. (6) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 250.
10. (14) Ryan Reed, Ford, 250.
11. (8) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 250.
12. (9) Drew Herring, Toyota, 249.
13. (13) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 249.
14. (17) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 249.
15. (16) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 249.
16. (19) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 248.
17. (23) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 248.
18. (12) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 248.
19. (26) Justin Marks, Chevrolet, 247.
20. (22) Ray Black Jr., Chevrolet, 247.
21. (28) David Starr, Chevrolet, 247.
22. (20) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 245.
23. (32) BJ McLeod, Ford, 245.
24. (30) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 244.
25. (34) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 242.
26. (31) Michael Lira, Ford, 239.
27. (10) Darrell Wallace Jr., Ford, 239.
28. (37) Mike Harmon, Dodge, 238.
29. (40) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 234.
30. (1) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, Engine, 174.
31. (27) Jeff Green, Toyota, Brakes, 152.
32. (18) Brandon McReynolds, Toyota, Accident, 147.
33. (35) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, Brakes, 139.
34. (21) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, Accident, 127.
35. (38) Matt Waltz, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 95.
36. (36) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Handling, 62.
37. (29) Timmy Hill, Toyota, Engine, 61.
38. (33) TJ Bell, Chevrolet, Electrical, 55.
39. (24) Mike Bliss, Toyota, Vibration, 4.
40. (39) John Jackson, Chevrolet, Electrical, 2.
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Average Speed of Race Winner: 104.401 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 05 Mins, 43 Secs. Margin of Victory: 3.533 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 29 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: 0; E. Jones 1-42; J. Yeley 43-46; E. Jones 47-116; E. Sadler 117-125; E. Jones 126-151; T. Dillon 152-234; E. Jones 235-250.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): E. Jones 4 times for 154 laps; T. Dillon 1 time for 83 laps; E. Sadler 1 time for 9 laps; J. Yeley 1 time for 4 laps.
Top 10 in Points: E. Sadler - 633; D. Suarez - 619; T. Dillon - 598; E. Jones - 584; J. Allgaier - 576; B. Gaughan - 565; B. Poole - 556; B. Jones - 545; D. Wallace Jr. - 500; R. Reed - 464.