KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Two separate incidents caused a premature end to Friday’s opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Kansas Speedway.
With 13 minutes to go, Erik Jones chased his car up the hill and ultimately went for a spin off turn four, just briefly catching the grass on the frontstretch before coming to a stop.
His car was only slightly damaged in the fray, and Jones confirmed that the team will not pull out their backup car, instead repairing the primary No. 77 5-hour Energy Toyota for qualifying later in the evening.
“I was just a little bit free, so I moved up a little bit in (turns) three and four to try to keep the lap time in it … and it started getting away from me some to where eventually, I just had to kind of give up on it. It was already getting too free and there was kind of no coming back.”
“So I just gave up, spun out and you know, after that … luckily we didn’t really catch the grass too bad and didn’t get too much damage. We’ll get if fixed up and get back out for second practice.”
Jones expressed relief that the damage was repairable, saying that he feels there is a solid amount of speed in his Toyota for the rest of the weekend.
“You never want to roll a backup out, so it’s nice to have the same car,” he said. “Fortunately, we have minimal damage, a little bit of side skirt work, so we’ll get it back going. I think it’s a fast car really, we just got to get it tuned up a little bit and we’ll be just fine.”
Shortly after, Michael McDowell’s No. 95 Tommy Williams Drywall Chevrolet lost a motor and dumped fluid down on the racing surface, bringing cleanup crews out onto the track and officially pulling the red and black flags over the 1.5-mile oval.
“I’m not really sure (what happened), but something broke … something big,” McDowell explained. “It was just a little vibration and then the motor blew right there. I’m not sure what happened … if a belt came off or something like that.”
Despite the early setback, McDowell was confident in his race car for the remainder of the weekend.
“We have a really good TWD Chevy; it was really fast there on that long run. We didn’t make it out that first part of practice and we weren’t able to put up a big lap, but this car is really good. So, we will swap the motor out; we will be fine.”
Final practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Kansas Speedway kicks off at 1:30 p.m. ET.
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.
Email Jacob at: editor@racechaseronline.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
Email Race Chaser Online: news@racechaseronline.com
Follow RCO on Twitter: @RaceChaserNews
