JOLIET, Ill. — Erik Jones used a wire-to-wire performance to capture the opening stage of Saturday’s TheHouse.com 300 at Chicagoland Speedway, leading all 45 laps for his fourth NASCAR XFINITY Series stage win of the season.
All four of Jones’ stage wins have come during stage one (Phoenix, Texas, Kentucky and Chicagoland).
Jones crossed the line under the green-checkered flag a half-second in front of Kyle Larson, who tagged the wall with the right rear quarter of his car two laps prior to the stage break.
The stage ran from start to finish without a caution flag.
Behind Jones and Larson, Cole Custer was the highest-finishing series regular in third, ahead of two more Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regulars in Ryan Blaney and Daniel Suarez.
“I think we’re pretty good, but I think we can get better,” said Custer. “We’re good running on the bottom, so hopefully we can keep this going and have a really strong run today.”
Custer added that he enjoyed being among the Cup regulars as he seeks a strong entrance to the playoffs next week.
“I think they (Cup drivers) make us better,” he explained. “I’m learning things from Kyle (Larson) running the top and everything, I’m just trying to figure out how he runs it. It’s a little bit weird up there running that top seam in (Turns) 1 and 2. I think I figured it out there in that opening stage; hopefully I can get it a little better.”
Regular season champion Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier, Matt Tifft, Austin Dillon and Daniel Hemric completed the points-scoring drivers in the top 10.
William Byron, who is a three-time winner in the XFINITY Series this season, went to the garage with transmission and oil pressure issues on lap 31. He was running eighth before his problems arose, but is locked into the playoffs.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
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