BRISTOL, Tenn.– Erik Jones got a great restart in the closing laps and passed the leader to score the victory at Thunder Valley.
The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota passed to the outside of Kyle Larson with three laps to go to win the Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s the third win in the XFINITY Series for the 19-year-old rookie out of Byron, Michigan.
“I don’t know, we had a really good restart there,” Jones said. “The 18 hadn’t been getting going. I lost my voice because I’ve been screaming so much on the cooldown lap. We got a really good restart and Kyle just left the top open and we went up there and he worked pretty hard to keep us behind him. We just kept digging and it worked out. Just an awesome feeling. I never thought we’d get our first win here at Bristol this year.
“I figured at some point in the year we could get a win when those guys weren’t in the field, but it would be a tall task with them in the field. Here at Bristol for those two guys, this is one of their best tracks. I’m just so excited and you can tell, I’m out of breath. I wasn’t working that hard. Just so excited about the win and to be here in victory lane and beat those guys. This is a really big day for us.”
Kyle Busch led 43 laps on his way to a runner-up finish in his No. 18 JGR Toyota.
“When I went to the gas on the last two restarts, it just didn’t accelerate,” Busch said. “I lost all my acceleration and those guys were just gone. I didn’t even have a chance. Jones cleared me by the time we got to Turn 1, that’s how bad it was.
“I ran too low for a lap and Erik got to my outside. I tried to slide him into (Turn) 1 and I was hoping he’d make a mistake and I’d get another shot at him in 3, but I just ran into the side of him. I did a really poor job the last two laps and I just blame myself.”
Larson, who led the most laps at 94, was edged out by Busch at the line and settled for rounding out the podium. Austin Dillon finished fourth in his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
“This was definitely a different race today,” Austin said. “It was interesting to have the heat races. The No. 2 Rheem Chevrolet was really strong for the second heat race. Danny (Stockman, crew chief) and the guys had the handling dialed in for me. After the heat race, a lot of rubber was laid down and the handling for the main changed. I got pretty tight in the center of the corners but with only 200 laps, it’s hard to make adjustments. I’m proud of the No. 2 team. We have some things we’re going to try next week at Richmond that I’m pretty excited about.”
Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-five in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
Daniel Suárez finished sixth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Ty Dillon finished seventh in his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet.
“That was definitely a tough finish at the end,” Ty said. “I’m disappointed the way it turned out. We had a lot faster car than a seventh-place finish. It was difficult to pass and make a move today, unless you could really race the bottom of the track. I enjoyed the heat racing today, but wish we were there at the end to have a chance to win the Dash4Cash.”
Kevin Harvick finished eighth in his No. 88 JRM Chevrolet. Joey Logano finished ninth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Aric Almirola rounded out the top-10 in his No. 98 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford.
“We struggled,” Almirola said. “We were off on our balance. We did all of our practice in the morning yesterday and the track was never really the same today. That’s good though because I felt like I learned quite a bit that will help me tomorrow and we’ll go from there. All in all, it was a pretty good day for us…We qualified in the top-10 and pretty much raced in the top-10 all day, so I’m proud of that.”
The race lasted one hour, eight minutes and 10 seconds at an average speed of 93.829 mph. There were 10 lead changes among four different drivers and three cautions for 29 laps.
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