After scoring his best career XFINITY race finish with a third at Auto Club Speedway, Erik Jones scored his second consecutive pole award in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. Jones lapped the mile and a half oval with a lap of 29.163 seconds.
“It just worked out,” he commented. “We had a fast Camry. I didn’t really know that we would be that fast – I guess once we tape and get it going, it goes. It’s a good feeling two weeks in a row. Hopefully we can keep speed in it during the race. It’s pretty surreal. We put a lot of work in getting our mile and a half program better, and it’s paying off. I’m really excited about the race now.”
Brad Keselowski would qualify second, five hundredths off of Jones’ quick lap as he looks for his first win of the year. Austin Dillon was third after leading both practices yesterday, followed by Daniel Saurez, who continues his learning curve in the XFINITY Series. Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top-five.
“It was good,” Saurez said. “Very happy with the car and all these guys from Joe Gibbs Racing did an amazing job. We gained a lot of speed from yesterday to today, so really looking forward to tonight’s race. Hopefully, things keep going this way.”
Regan Smith was sixth quickest, followed by Brian Scott, Darrell Wallace Jr., Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Brendan Gaughan.
