Jones Triumphs In Chicagoland Xfinity Race

Erik Jones celebrates at Chicagoland Speedway after winning the Owens Corning Atticat 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race. [Russ Lake Photo]

by Mary Champion

Joliet, Ill., June 21 – Erik Jones went two-for-two for the weekend as he won the NASCAR Xfinity Series Owens Corning Atticat 300 at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday.

The race got underway about 16 hours late as torrential rains hit the Speedway on Saturday night just minutes before the race was scheduled to start, postponing the race to Sunday.

Prior to the race, Jones only had his qualifying laps in the car as Drew Herring practiced in, and set up, the car for Jones on Friday while Jones was at Iowa Speedway, where he won Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event.

The race started with NASCAR Sprint Cup regular, Austin Dillon, and Ross Kenseth, who was making his first Xfinity race start, in the front row.

The pair were side by side for the first couple of laps until Dillon took the lead.

Ryan Blaney, who was forced to start in the rear of the field after crashing his primary car during qualifying on Saturday and going to his backup car, had moved up to eighth by Lap 18.

The first caution of the race was a competition caution on Lap 25 to give teams an opportunity to assess their tires and set-ups on the green track after the heavy rains.

Following the caution the running order was A. Dillon, Regan Smith, Elliott Sadler, Blaney, Jones, Chase Elliott and Kenseth.

As the track went green cars were three and four wide with Smith leading Sadler on Lap 32 followed by A. Dillon, Blaney and Elliot.

At Lap 50 of the 200-lap race the top five were Jones, who had opened up a 1.2 second lead on second-place Dillon, Blaney who was running third, Smith fourth and Elliott fifth.

By Lap 60 Blaney was closing on Jones with the pair battling side-by-side for several laps before Blaney assumed the lead on Lap 71 and open up the lead as Jones got caught up in traffic.

Green flag pit stops started about Lap 74.

On Lap 77, during the green flag pit stop sequence, Dylan Lupton was too fast entering the pits and the team also was penalized for having a tire roll out of the pit box during the stop.

During the pit stops, Xfinity Series point leader Chris Buescher was caught speeding while entering the pits and was sent to the tail end of the field.

Lupton’s wayward tire brought out the second caution of the race from Laps 81-86 as the tire had rolled across pit road and had to be retrieved from the grass between the pits and the track.

The yellow was in the middle of the pit stop sequence, which scrambled the field as some drivers had already pitted and some had yet to pit.

During the caution period, Elliott came to the pits to repair damage to the rear of his car.

Bubba Wallace also was having work done during his pit stop. The crew had the hood up on the car to raise the front splitter as it was set too low and was dragging on the track.

When the track went green on Lap 87 the running order was Jones, Dillon, Blaney, Smith and Ryan Sieg.

The yellow came out again just 10 laps later when Wallace spun and hit the wall in Turn 2.

While Wallace headed to the pits for repairs, his teammate Buescher, was the free pass car, putting him back on the lead lap.

The green came back out on Lap 104 and, on the next lap the running order was Smith leading, followed by Jones, Blaney, A. Dillon, Brendan Gaughan, Ty Dillon, Elliott, Kenseth, Sadler and Daniel Suarez.

It was a very competitive race as at this point as there were still 25 cars on the lead lap.

The front of the field had closed up following the yellow and a three-way battle for the lead was underway by Lap 111 between Smith, Jones and Blaney.

Jones took the lead from Smith on Lap 113 and the following lap, Blaney moved into second.

Blaney fought Jones for the lead for several laps but Jones was able to again pull away, holding a 0.7 second lead on Lap 120 and, a few laps later, Smith and A. Dillon were battling for third.

The yellow banner again flew on Lap 129 when Mike Harmon’s car stalled on the backstretch.

The field took advantage of the yellow to make pit stops and when the green came back out the top five were Jones, Blaney, Smith, Gaughan and A. Dillon.

As Jones pulled away, positions two through eight were hotly contested for a time but by Lap 139, the field had settled down and the top three were Jones, A. Dillon and Gaughan, who were separated by a 2.1 second margin.

Lupton hit the Turn 2 wall on Lap 151, bringing out the yellow.

It was under this yellow that things got really interesting. As the field circled the track the drivers were waiting for the pits to be opened to make the final scheduled pit stops of the race.

The NASCAR radios indicated that the pits were open and this information was relayed to the drivers, who prepared to pit.

However, the signal at the pit road opening was still red indicating the pits were not yet opened.

Most of the drivers did not observe the signal but listened to their radios and pitted when the pit open light was still red.

This confusing situation changed the complexion of the race, as while many drivers pitted. Gaughan, Sieg and a few others did not, instead pitting on the next lap.

NASCAR ruled that the proper procedure was for the drivers to obey the track signal and 19 drivers were sent to the tail end of the longest line for the pit road opening violation.

As the field prepared for the restart, those drivers lined up behind the few drivers who waited to pit, causing some confusion in the starting order.

Blaney, Gaughan, Wallace, Buescher, Cale Conley, Jeremy Clements and Ryan Reed had waited until the pit road light was green to pit and were in the top seven positions as the track went green.

Kenseth, the first of the penalized drivers who pitted too early, was in eighth and the rest of the field lined up behind him.

As the green came out on Lap 160, Blaney and Gaughan battled for the lead while behind them the field was three and four wide trying to gain lost positions.

On Lap 161, the top five were Blaney, Gaughan, Wallace, Jones, who had already moved up to overcome the penalty, and Suarez.

Jones moved up to second three laps later and temporarily settled in behind Blaney.

The caution flag again appeared on Lap 179 after Elliott, who already had right rear damage to his car, spun in Turn 2.

The running order on Lap 180, under yellow, was Blaney leading followed by Jones in second, A. Dillon in third, Gaughan fourth, Wallace, who had already crashed once in fifth, and Buescher, who had overcome his early speeding penalty, in sixth.

Some of the lead lap cars pitted as they still had a new set of tires in the pits and gambled that the new tires would benefit them in the few remaining laps.

The green come out on Lap 183 but was only out for two laps as Dakoda Armstrong hit the frontstretch wall after contact with Ross Chastain, bringing out the final yellow on Lap 185.

The running order of the top five as the field began the final stretch to the checkered was Blaney followed by Jones, with Gaughan third, A. Dillon fourth and Buescher rounding out the top five.

Blaney had pulled out to a slight lead over Jones but it was short-lived as Jones took over the top spot on Lap 190 as the rest of the field frantically jockeyed for position behind them. With new tires, and in a desperate attempt to gain positions, Kenseth was passing cars while riding down on the track apron.

On Lap 195 Dillon was pulling out all the stops in an attempt to pass Blaney for second while Gaughan and Buescher battled for fourth

When the checkered flag fell, Jones had his second win of the weekend, while Blaney, who started the race from the rear in a backup car, was second, holding off A. Dillon who finished third. Gaughan held off Buescher to take fourth while Kenseth moved through the field to finish sixth in his first Xfinity start.

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