SPARTA, Ky. — Erik Jones kicked off his pursuit of the NASCAR XFINITY Series title in style, winning the 21 Means 21 Pole Award on Saturday evening at Kentucky Speedway in advance of the opening race of the Chase for the Championship.
Jones led a one-two punch by Joe Gibbs Racing at the 1.5-mile Bluegrass State oval, posting a time of 28.845 seconds (187.207 mph) in the third and final round of knockout qualifying to score his 11th career pole and series-leading eighth of the season.
The 20-year-old Byron, Michigan young gun just missed Kyle Busch’s track record of 28.828 seconds (187.318 mph), set in July at the newly-repaved facility, but said he got everything he could out of his No. 20 Overwatch/GameStop Toyota.
“That was everything we had, right there,” Jones said. “We just went a little too far in our adjustments and got a little bit free, but if we get it tuned up right for the race, I think there’s some more (speed) in it. As long as it stays good for the long run, we should be in a pretty good position towards the end of the race.”
“This is probably our biggest pole of the year, from the fact that it’s the first race of the Chase and because it’s a repave,” Jones added. “Track position is going to be key. It’s pretty important to start in front and get some clean air on tracks like this. We’ve got a really good car and it has been super-fast all weekend, even though we were a little bit free through (turns) three and four. We were good enough to get (the pole) though, so it’s good to be starting up front again.”
Jones’ teammate Daniel Suarez completed the front row sweep in qualifying for JGR, clocking a lap of 28.966 seconds (186.425 mph) in the No. 19 DEWALT FlexVolt Toyota.
As a team, the Gibbs cars have swept the front row for every mile-and-a-half event in the XFINITY Series this season.
“My car just needs to turn a little better,” Suarez said of what he will need to top his teammate in tonight’s VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM).
“I feel like our car is fine. I didn’t make any (mock) qualifying runs yesterday in practice … but our car was good. Right now the sun is pretty hard and since we’re going to be racing at night, things will be different. Hopefully the race will come to us and we’ll be able to go after the win.”
Elliott Sadler qualified third for JR Motorsports ahead of Richard Childress Racing teammates Ty Dillon and Sam Hornish Jr., who was the fastest non-Chase driver in fifth.
Matt Tifft timed in sixth-quick, and will make his first XFINITY start since stepping out of the car for brain surgery in July at the track where he made his series debut one year ago this weekend.
Brendan Gaughan, Ryan Blaney, Darrell Wallace Jr., Justin Allgaier, Brennan Poole and Josh Berry were the rest of the dozen drivers who advanced through all three rounds of qualifying to run for the pole, starting in positions seven through twelve, respectively.
Justin Marks was the first car who failed to transfer into the pole round, posting a time of 29.422 seconds (183.536 mph) in the No. 42 Katerra Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Four of the 12 Chase drivers failed to make it out of round two in qualifying, led by Richard Childress Racing’s Brandon Jones in 14th.
“I freaked myself out a little bit, down there in turns three and four,” Jones admitted. “You know, when you give up a little bit (of time) and then you try to carry a little bit more speed … it can mess with you a little bit. I think our car is a little bit better than what we showed, though, and we have a lot of time to work out ways to move forward.”
Blake Koch (15th), Ryan Reed (16th) and Ryan Sieg (19th) were the other championship hopefuls knocked out prior to the run for the pole.
Timmy Hill was the lone driver who failed to qualify for the 40-car field.
The VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 gets underway at 8 p.m. ET, with live coverage on NBCSN, the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
