With 26 laps to go, Erik Jones had a solid restart, clearing both Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take the lead. He would then cruise the rest of the way to scoring his first career XFINITY Series victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. Speaking in the media center afterward, Jones called the victory ‘surreal’.
“It’s going to take a minute for this one to sink in,” he said. “This has got to be one of the biggest wins in my career by far, to race against these Cup guys and being able to go out and get a win. I knew we had a fast Camry, I never go into a race thinking we can’t win, but it’s still far-fetched to think – man, it’s amazing, I watched the other guys do it, win races as young guys and I want to be that guy. Now we’re here in victory lane and take it all in and honestly can’t wait to get to the race track again.”
Starting on the pole, Jones ran up front throughout the whole night in the top-three. He led laps early and took the lead with 50 laps to go from Dale Earnhardt Jr. after a lengthy battle back and forth.
“That’s one I can’t wait to go back and watch,” Jones commented on their battle. “That was so much fun. That was two guys giving 100 percent and giving it all they got, saving nothing. That’s what it’s all about. That’s how you’re supposed to race and hopefully the fans enjoyed it. Man, we put on a great show, I was having fun – one of the most fun times I’ve had in the race car by far.”
A caution would fly late in the race with 32 laps to go when Cale Conley blew a tire, catching Brendan Gaughan and causing Gaughan to hit the outside wall hard. All the leaders came to pit road, with Jones winning the race off. Restarting on the bottom of the track, Jones was able to get a good restart, propelling him out in front of the field.
“I honestly thought of taking the top for the last restart, but I felt good about what we had on the bottom and getting lined up down there,” he commented. “We had been beat by the top side, but at the same time I thought maybe we can make it work down there. It just seemed like the right thing to do.”
The victory comes for Jones in a year where he isn’t running the full series schedule. Jones is slated to run a partial XFINITY Series schedule this year for Joe Gibbs Racing while running the full Camping World Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports. In past seasons, Jones has only run a partial schedule between series. He says this year, though, being in the seat every week has been a huge help for him.
“Getting that seat time, learning what these cars want and what these cars need and having that extra seat time is really, really big,” he commented. “I don’t have to get in the race car anymore and knock the rust off like I was the last couple of years. It eliminates that whole feeling and gives me the confidence that I know what I’m going to do this week and how I’m going to do it and that’s a big boost for a driver.”
Jones had impressed so far to date with a string of top-10s in both XFINITY and trucks, but this certainly steps the bar up that much higher for many people. One of those people being team owner Joe Gibbs.
“I think Erik (Jones), first of all has a great family support, has everybody around him that has done a great job with him and he really carries himself well,” Gibbs commented. “He’s very talented, obviously. I had to call Kyle (Busch) and give him credit. I let Erik talk to him. We are really proud of him to be able to do what he’s done. The big thing is, he beat some big people – those are good cars up front in really quality stuff. We’re proud of him and he should be proud of himself.”
There were discussions back in February when Kyle Busch got hurt that Jones could get behind the wheel of the No. 18 M&Ms Camry before Busch returns. Whether or not that will happen, that has yet to be seen, but it should be noted that JGR’s deal with David Ragan expires after Talladega Superspeedway.
“As far as down the road, there’s no question that at some point very quick he’s going to be in a Cup car some,” Gibbs shared. “I think we have a bit of a strategy there that we talked about. I think he’s ready to go at any time. We’ll just work with that as we go forward.”
