{"id":2223,"date":"2016-04-16T20:06:51","date_gmt":"2016-04-17T01:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=2223"},"modified":"2016-04-16T20:06:51","modified_gmt":"2016-04-17T01:06:51","slug":"erik-jones-capitalizes-on-late-restart-for-xfinity-win-at-bristol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2016\/04\/16\/erik-jones-capitalizes-on-late-restart-for-xfinity-win-at-bristol\/","title":{"rendered":"Erik Jones capitalizes on late restart for XFINITY win at Bristol"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer
\nNASCAR Wire Service<\/p>\n

BRISTOL, Tenn. \u2013 Erik Jones\u2019 third NASCAR XFINITY Series victory was a real triple play.<\/p>\n

\"Erik

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 Gamestop\/Performance Designed Products Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Matt Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

In the series\u2019 new Dash 4 Cash format featuring two heat races and a main event, Jones took advantage of a restart with three laps left in Saturday\u2019s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 and 1) won the race, 2) earned the $100,000 dash for cash bonus and 3) stopped Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and race runner-up Kyle Busch\u2019s streak of four straight NASCAR national series victories.<\/p>\n

Jones, the pole winner, restarted fourth on the final restart and charged into second place behind leader Kyle Larson when Busch\u2019s No. 18 Toyota hesitated trying to pick up power in the bottom lane. Larson left the preferred top lane open through Turns 3 and 4 and Jones took advantage, taking the lead from Larson with two laps left.<\/p>\n

Busch followed his teammate into second place, but couldn\u2019t keep up with Jones on the final lap, trailing the No. 20 JGR Toyota by .418 seconds at the finish line. The runner-up result ended Busch\u2019s prospects for a record third straight NASCAR weekend sweep.<\/p>\n

\"Erik

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 Gamestop\/Performance Designed Products Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

“We had a really good restart, and Kyle (Larson) just left the top open,” said an elated Jones, who was battling teammate and eventual sixth-place finisher Daniel Su\u00e1rez for the Dash 4 Cash bonus, a prize available only to drivers competing for the XFINITY Series championship.<\/p>\n

Su\u00e1rez had the misfortune to restart third on the bottom on Lap 198 and got bottled up behind Busch as Jones charged forward in pursuit of Larson. That allowed Austin Dillon to take fourth and Justin Allgaier fifth at the finish.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s doubtful Jones could have scripted a more satisfactory ending if he\u2019d written it himself.<\/p>\n

“I figured at some point in the year we could get a win when those guys weren\u2019t in the field, but it would be a tall task with them in the field,” said Jones, who picked up his third victory in the series and his first this year.<\/p>\n

\"Erik

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 Gamestop\/Performance Designed Products Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

“Here at Bristol, for those two guys, this is one of their best tracks. I\u2019m just so excited and you can tell \u2013 I\u2019m out of breath. I wasn\u2019t 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.”<\/p>\n

Though Jones was the winner, most of the race was a battle for the top spot between Larson, who led 94 laps, and Busch, who led 43.<\/p>\n

“The two cars that were the class of the field today didn\u2019t win \u2013 oh, well,” Busch said. “It\u2019s a great day for Erik Jones. He certainly stole one today. He didn\u2019t out-race the two Kyles up front, but he certainly did in the final laps that counted.”<\/p>\n

Larson spent most of his time in the post-race beating himself up for leaving the top lane open for the opportunistic Jones.<\/p>\n

\"Erik

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 Gamestop\/Performance Designed Products Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Matt Hazlett\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

“I just did a really bad job on that restart \u2013 really bad,” Larson said. “I knew I gave it away. I\u2019m really disappointed in myself. I just ran half a groove too low through (Turns) 3 and 4.”<\/p>\n

The two 50-lap heat races produced a pair of wire-to-wire winners, Jones and Austin Dillon, and no cautions. But the heats did establish the starting order for the 200-lap main event, as well as identify the four eligible Dash 4 Cash competitors.<\/p>\n

Jones, Allgaier (fourth in the first heat), Ty Dillon (second to his brother in the second heat) and Su\u00e1rez (fourth in the second heat) took the green as the only drivers competing for the $100,000 bonus.<\/p>\n

Any driver who wins two of the four Dash 4 Cash bonuses qualifies for the Chase, but as the first XFINITY regular to win a race this year, Jones won\u2019t need the extra help.<\/p>\n

\"Erik

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 Gamestop\/Performance Designed Products Toyota, celebrates winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. Photo by Robert Laberge\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

NASCAR XFINITY Series Race – Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300
\nBristol Motor Speedway
\nBristol, Tennessee
\nSaturday, April 16, 2016
\n1. (1) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 200.
\n2. (5) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 200.
\n3. (3) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 200.
\n4. (2) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200.
\n5. (7) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.
\n6. (8) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 200.
\n7. (4) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 200.
\n8. (10) Kevin Harvick(i), Chevrolet, 200.
\n9. (6) Joey Logano(i), Ford, 200.
\n10. (12) Aric Almirola(i), Ford, 200.
\n11. (9) Brandon Jones #, Chevrolet, 199.
\n12. (14) Jeb Burton, Ford, 199.
\n13. (19) Brennan Poole #, Chevrolet, 199.
\n14. (20) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 199.
\n15. (15) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 199.
\n16. (11) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 198.
\n17. (24) David Starr, Toyota, 198.
\n18. (27) Brandon Gdovic, Chevrolet, 197.
\n19. (26) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 197.
\n20. (36) Ray Black Jr #, Chevrolet, 197.
\n21. (17) Ryan Reed, Ford, 197.
\n22. (21) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 197.
\n23. (25) Matt Tifft(i), Toyota, 197.
\n24. (22) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 197.
\n25. (13) Darrell Wallace Jr, Ford, 196.
\n26. (29) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, 196.
\n27. (23) Jeff Green, Ford, 196.
\n28. (28) BJ McLeod #, Ford, 196.
\n29. (30) Garrett Smithley #, Chevrolet, 195.
\n30. (31) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 195.
\n31. (33) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 193.
\n32. (37) Timmy Hill(i), Dodge, 193.
\n33. (18) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, Ignition, 192.
\n34. (34) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 192.
\n35. (32) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 187.
\n36. (35) Mike Harmon, Dodge, 182.
\n37. (16) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 133.
\n38. (38) JJ Yeley, Toyota, Electrical, 74.
\n39. (40) Josh Wise(i), Chevrolet, Transmission, 21.
\n40. (39) Matt DiBenedetto(i), Toyota, Vibration, 4.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:\u00a0 93.829 mph.
\nTime of Race:\u00a0 01 Hrs, 08 Mins, 10 Secs. Margin of Victory:\u00a0 0.418 Seconds.
\nCaution Flags:\u00a0 3 for 23 laps.
\nLead Changes:\u00a0 10 among 4 drivers.
\nLap Leaders:\u00a0\u00a0 E. Jones # 1-40; J. Green 41; E. Jones # 42-60; K. Larson(i) 61-62; K. Busch(i) 63-102; K. Larson(i) 103-126; K. Busch(i) 127; K. Larson(i) 128-194; K. Busch(i) 195-196; K. Larson(i) 197; E. Jones # 198-200.
\nLeaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):\u00a0 K. Larson(i) 4 times for 94 laps; E. Jones # 3 times for 62 laps; K. Busch(i) 3 times for 43 laps; J. Green 1 time for 1 lap.
\nTop 10 in Points: D. Suarez – 242; E. Jones # – 236; J. Allgaier – 234; E. Sadler – 232; B. Jones # – 223; T. Dillon – 221; B. Gaughan – 208; B. Poole # – 180; R. Reed – 180; D. Wallace Jr – 176.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel

Daniel Suarez, driver of the #19 Juniper Networks Toyota, practices for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 14, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt\/NASCAR via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ty

Ty Dillon, driver of the #3 Red Kap\/Kohls.com Chevrolet, practices for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 14, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Matt Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Justin

Justin Allgaier, driver of the #7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet, races during qualifying for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. Photo by Robert Laberge\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Erik

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 Gamestop\/Performance Designed Products Toyota, leads Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 BELKIN Chevrolet, during the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 Heat #1 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. Photo by Robert Laberge\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Crew

Crew members push the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr., through the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Matt Hazlett\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ryan

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, steps into his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Erik

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 Gamestop\/Performance Designed Products Toyota, poses with the 21 Means 21 Pole Award after qualifying for the pole position for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt\/NASCAR via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Daniel

Daniel Suarez, driver of the #19 Juniper Networks Toyota, talks to crew chief Scott Graves during qualifying for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Brandon

Brandon Jones, driver of the #33 Check Into Cash Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during qualifying for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Matt Hazlett\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Cars

Cars line the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. Photo by Robert Laberge\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. \u2013 Erik Jones\u2019 third NASCAR XFINITY Series victory was a real triple play. In the series\u2019 new Dash 4 Cash format featuring two heat races and a main event, Jones took advantage of a restart with three laps left in Saturday\u2019s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 and 1) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[177,180,16,181],"class_list":["post-2223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-bristol-motor-speedway","tag-erik-jones","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-xfinity-series"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BMS_041616_15_1-e1460854774887.jpg?fit=615%2C410&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-zR","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2223"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2241,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223\/revisions\/2241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}