News: 30th-Place Finish for Erik Jones and DEWALT Team at Martinsville Speedway
Box Score Info:
Date: March 24, 2019
Event: STP 500 (Round 6 of 36)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Track: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile Oval)
Format: 500 Laps (Stages: 130 laps / 260 laps / 500 laps)
Start/Finish: 18th/30th (Running, completed 491 of 500 laps)
Point Standings: 14th (140 points, 133 points out of 1st)
Race Winner: Brad Keselowski
Stage 1 Winner: Brad Keselowski
Stage 2 Winner: Brad Keselowski
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-130)
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 131-260)
Stage 3 Recap (Laps 261 – 500)
Additional Notes
Next Race: Teams now head to Texas Motor Speedway for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 on Sunday, March 31. The race will be broadcast at 3:00 p.m. ET on FOX, Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SIRIUS XM Channel 90.
Date: March 24, 2019
Event: STP 500 (Round 6 of 36)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Track: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile Oval)
Format: 500 Laps (Stages: 130 laps / 260 laps / 500 laps)
Start/Finish: 18th/30th (Running, completed 491 of 500 laps)
Point Standings: 14th (140 points, 133 points out of 1st)
Race Winner: Brad Keselowski
Stage 1 Winner: Brad Keselowski
Stage 2 Winner: Brad Keselowski
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-130)
- Rolling off 18th in the DEWALT Camry at Martinsville Speedway, Erik Jones finished the first stage in 17th position.
- The team made their first stop of the race under the lap 65 caution period for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. Jones restarted the race from 17th on lap 71 and remained in the position when the stage ended on lap 130.
- Pretty happy with the handling of the No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry, Jones pitted from the 17th position for a routine stop during the caution at the end of stage one.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 131-260)
- Jones started the second stage from 15th and ended the stage in the 11th position.
- Moving up to 12th following the start of stage two, Jones was able to move in to the top 10 throughout the stage before the caution waved on lap 260 to end the stage.
- Not needing many changes, the team again made a routine stop and returned to the track in ninth place.
Stage 3 Recap (Laps 261 – 500)
- The DEWALT team started the final stage from the ninth position and finished the STP 500 in 30th place.
- Jones reported to the team he was too loose in the opening laps of the final stage and with a caution on lap 312, the team called Jones to pit road for four tires, fuel and to reverse the previous air-pressure adjustment. The race restarted on lap 319 with Jones in 13th.
- Unfortunately, contact from a competitor on the restart caused left-side damage to the No. 20 Camry causing the left-side tires to go flat. With no caution, Jones limped his way around the track to pit road for fresh tires and to make repairs to the damaged DEWALT Camry. Jones returned to the track eight laps down in 32nd.
- As the race continued, Jones was able to advance two spots to finish the race in 30th-place.
Additional Notes
- Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch finished third with Denny Hamlin finishing fifth and Martin Truex, Jr. finishing eighth.
Next Race: Teams now head to Texas Motor Speedway for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 on Sunday, March 31. The race will be broadcast at 3:00 p.m. ET on FOX, Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SIRIUS XM Channel 90.
