Erik Jones wins, establishes himself as XFINITY Chase favorite
Erik Jones won the Drive For Safety 300 on Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway, establishing himself as the clear-cut favorite heading into the inaugural NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase for the championship.
Jones went to Victory Lane the 1.5-mile track by taking advantage when Kyle Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, went for a late spin after dominating much of the race.
Jones then held off another hard-charging Sprint Cup regular, Kyle Larson, over the final laps to secure the win, his fourth of the season. That is tops among series regulars and second only to the eight Busch has won overall.
But the most important order of business Saturday was that the 12-driver field for the inaugural Chase in the XFINITY Series is now set -- with Jones clearly established as the man to beat.
"What an awesome day," Jones said. "Get a win before the Chase, this is a great momentum for us. I’m really excited."
The 12 XFINITY regulars who will compete for the series championship over the final seven races of the season are Erik Jones, Elliott Sadler, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon, Justin Allgaier, Brendan Gaughan, Brennan Poole, Brandon Jones, Darrell Wallace Jr., Ryan Reed, Blake Koch and Ryan Sieg.
Jones will be the top seed, as he kept Larson at bay over the final laps Saturday after Busch hit the wall, cut a rear tire and spun with 19 laps to go. Busch suffered the mishap after leading a race-high 154 laps.
Jones then had to deal with Larson, who came from 14th to second after getting shuffled back because of a pit-road speeding penalty on Lap 156 of the 200-lap event.
Larson got right up to Jones' bumper on the final lap, but Jones took away Larson's line and that led Larson to brushing the outside wall and losing momentum that cost him a chance at the win.
Larson's loss literally was Jones' gain.
Sadler, Suarez and Allgaier rounded out the top five finishers Saturday.
The three-round Chase will get underway next weekend at Kentucky Speedway, and Jones is definitely looking forward to it. Four drivers will be eliminated after the first three races, and another three after the next three -- leading the final four drivers to battle it out in a winner-take-all season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Jones said winning at Chicagoland was exactly what his No. 20 Toyota team needed.
"It’s a lot of momentum," he added. "I wish this was our first round right here. We’ll go into Kentucky, definitely with a full head of steam and are due for another win there.
"Our mile-and-a-half program is great. I’s been great all year. To finally get a first mile-and-a-half win of the year, now I'm just looking forward to getting to Kentucky next weekend and try to chase down another one."
