Jones gets seventh Xfinity victory at repaved Texas track
FORT WORTH, TEXAS >> Erik Jones skipped his high school graduation ceremony three years ago to run in a NASCAR truck race at Texas, where he was presented his actual diploma before the event.
Two years ago, he went to Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway for the first time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. On Saturday, he won again at the 1½-mile track that has since been completely repaved and reconfigured in Turns 1 and 2.
“Yeah, it’s been a good track for me,” Jones said. “The first time I came here, it’s funny, it really wasn’t that good to me, but after that it just kind of clicked and I felt really good here ever since.”
Jones led 112 of 200 laps for his seventh career Xfinity victory, four of them coming on 1½-mile tracks.
Jones finished a half-second ahead of Ryan Blaney, another fulltime Monster Energy Cup Series driver and the second-place qualifier for Sunday’s race. Blaney led 43 laps and went into his final pit stop still with the lead before Jones went back in front for good on lap 156.
“We passed him before the last pit stop and I thought our car was pretty decent right there,” Blaney said. “We didn’t come out with the lead and that hurt us. I think if we would have come out with the lead, I don’t know if I could have held him off.”
Kevin Harvick, the polesitter for Sunday’s Cup race, finished third more than 21 seconds back, ahead of Austin Dillon and Cole Custer.
Darrell Wallace Jr. overcame a spin 67 laps into the race to finish sixth, the fifth consecutive race in that position. That is the secondlongest streak in the series with the same top-10 finish, one behind Jack Ingram’s string of six consecutive runner-up finishes in 1983.
Jones will be in a backup Cup car after his crash in practice Friday, and will start 36th in the 40-car field.
“The repave was really treacherous to start the weekend and this is a nice way to bounce back for myself after going to a backup the other day in the Cup car,” he said. “Hopefully this is a good start for tomorrow.”
Hamilton captures 6th pole at Chinese GP in record time
SHANGHAI >> Faced with a spirited challenge at the start of the Formula One season from a resurgent Ferrari, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton showed Saturday that he’s still the driver to beat.
Hamilton captured his sixth pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix, edging Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari by less than two-tenths of a second.
For the second race in a row, Hamilton also did it in record time. His lap of 1 minute, 31.678 seconds broke the 13-year-old circuit mark held by Michael Schumacher by more than half a second. He also posted the fastest-ever lap at the Australian Grand Prix during qualifying last month.
Still, Hamilton doesn’t necessarily think he’s the odds-on favorite in Sunday’s race, given the pace shown by his rivals in the scarlet cars.
“The Ferraris have looked so fast,” Hamilton said. “It’s super exciting for me because we’re really fighting these guys, having to raise the bar every time we go out.”
Taylor brothers 3-for-3 on season and at Long Beach
LONG BEACH >> Wayne Taylor Racing has made it three in a row, on the season and at Long Beach.
The team remained perfect this season by winning the IMSA Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach, its third win in three races this year. It’s also the team’s third consecutive victory on the streets of Long Beach.
This time Jordan Taylor got to close out the victory and drove his Cadillac past the Nissan of Ryan Dalziel to take the lead and the victory with about seven minutes remaining in the 90-minute race.