SPARTA, Ky. – Erik Jones held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to win the opening stage of Saturday afternoon’s rain-postponed NASCAR XFINITY Series Alsco 300 at Kentucky Speedway.
Though Busch started on the pole and led the first five circuits of the race, Jones capitalized on a lap six restart, passing both Busch and Ryan Blaney to assume the point and holding it all the way to the green-checkered flag.
Saturday marked Jones’ third XFINITY stage win of the season, all of them coming in Stage 1.
“Man, it’s looked pretty wild back there (on restarts),” Jones said. “It’s nice to be out front and getting some clean air. At these repaves, that’s always going to be king. We’ve got a good race car, so hopefully we’ve made a good couple changes here and can get back out front.”
Jones is looking for his first win at Kentucky Speedway after several near-misses.
“It’d sure be nice to get that first Kentucky win,” he admitted. “The track is still going through a pretty big transition, and with the sun being out … we haven’t really practiced in those conditions all weekend, so we just have to keep up with that and see what happens.”
A crash on the initial start, caused by a huge stack-up in the middle of the pack, saw Brandon Jones and Ryan Reed’s days ended less than 100 yards past the start-finish line, with heavy front end damage to both cars.
Brendan Gaughan’s afternoon was nearly as short, as he pounded the outside wall in Turn 2 on the eighth round to draw the second caution flag of the opening stage.
Once more consistent green-flag racing broke out following a lap 15 restart, Erik Jones jumped out to the lead over teammate Busch, doing the same following the third and final slowdown of the run – a competition caution at lap 25 after the overnight rain and additional track preparation Saturday morning.
Busch trailed to the stage break by .377 of a second, followed by fellow Cup regulars Joey Logano and Paul Menard.
Tyler Reddick was the highest series regular in fifth, with Cole Custer, William Byron, Justin Allgaier, Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick completing the top 10.
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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