News: Dover II Qualifying Report
Although eliminated from the NASCAR Playoffs in last week's Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL event, Erik Jones and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team remain determined to race strong through the end of the 2019 schedule. They approached Dover (Del.) International Speedway and the one-mile "Monster Mile" with good intentions to be competitive with the DeWalt Camry. Friday practice and then Saturday qualifying sessions showcased the speed Jones feels will put them in a good position for the Sunday main event. Jones and team qualified in the eighth position, a row-four start on Sunday afternoon.
When asked about his Dover qualifying attempt and his team's goals for the rest of the year, the Michigan native described, "The qualifying run was okay. Kind of where I expected going out late. It’s getting hotter now. We didn’t have a great car yesterday, so just kind of working through and trying to get a good starting spot and plan to 'out race' people. That has been our strength – just out racing people and making good adjustments. I don’t think anyone is going to beat the 11 (Denny Hamlin) going out so early in the qualifying session. The track was definitely the coolest then. As for the rest of the season we plan to just try to win a couple. We’ve shown that we can win races and I think we can do it pretty consistently, we just have to have some things go our way and execute on our end as well. Just go in and do what we can to try to win. Dover has been an okay place for us in the past. We ran okay here in the spring. That’s the goal. We are going to try to get the DeWalt Camry some more wins.”
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event will show the green flag on Sunday, October 6th, and will be broadcast on the NBC channel at 2:30 p.m. ET.
When asked about his Dover qualifying attempt and his team's goals for the rest of the year, the Michigan native described, "The qualifying run was okay. Kind of where I expected going out late. It’s getting hotter now. We didn’t have a great car yesterday, so just kind of working through and trying to get a good starting spot and plan to 'out race' people. That has been our strength – just out racing people and making good adjustments. I don’t think anyone is going to beat the 11 (Denny Hamlin) going out so early in the qualifying session. The track was definitely the coolest then. As for the rest of the season we plan to just try to win a couple. We’ve shown that we can win races and I think we can do it pretty consistently, we just have to have some things go our way and execute on our end as well. Just go in and do what we can to try to win. Dover has been an okay place for us in the past. We ran okay here in the spring. That’s the goal. We are going to try to get the DeWalt Camry some more wins.”
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event will show the green flag on Sunday, October 6th, and will be broadcast on the NBC channel at 2:30 p.m. ET.
