By Staff report | NASCAR.com
Erik Jones made a clean sweep of Thursday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series practices, pushing atop the leaderboard in the final session at Texas Motor Speedway.
Jones, driving the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota, blazed to a speed of 183.830 mph in final prep for Friday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.) He netted his first XFINITY win last April at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth track.
Kyle Busch, the defending Sprint Cup champ and a three-time winner this season in the XFINITY Series, turned the second-fastest lap (182.297 mph) in JGR’s No. 18 Toyota.
Sprint Cup regular Kyle Larson was third-best at 181.922 mph in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet. Ty Dillon (181.269) was fourth-fastest in the Richard Childress Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevy.
Daniel Suarez and rookie Brandon Jones tied for the fifth-best spot at 181.147 mph.
Coors Light Pole Qualifying is set for Friday at 4:45 p.m. ET, broadcast on FS1.
Jones shows muscle in early Texas session
Defending race winner Erik Jones topped the speed chart in opening NASCAR XFINITY Series practice Thursday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Jones registered a best lap of 186.968 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota in preparation for Friday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300. The 1.5-mile track was the site of Jones’ first XFINITY win last April.
Ty Dillon claimed the second-fastest lap, driving the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet to a speed of 183.968 mph in the 85-minute session. He is a former winner at the 1.5-mile track, prevailing at Texas in the Camping World Truck Series in 2013.
Dillon was followed by RCR teammate Brandon Jones at 183.175 mph, third-fastest in the No. 33 Chevrolet. Jones’ JGR teammate Daniel Suarez was fourth-best at 182.865 mph in the No. 19 Toyota.
Brennan Poole and Jeb Burton tied for the fifth-fastest lap with identical speeds of 181.837 mph.
Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch, winner of three of the last four XFINITY Series races, was ninth-fastest in another Gibbs-owned Toyota.
