News:
Early Wreck for Erik Jones Ends Day with 39th-Place Finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Box Score Info:

Date: September 8, 2019

Event: Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard (Race 26 of 36)

Series:  Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5-mile)

Format: 160 Laps (Stages: 50 laps / 100 laps / 160 laps)

Start/Finish: 14th/39th (Completed 160 of 160 laps)

Point Standings: 11th (2005 points, 40 points out of 1st – Reset for Playoffs)

 

Race Winner: Kevin Harvick

Stage 1 Winner: Joey Logano

Stage 2 Winner:  Kevin Harvick

 

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-50)

  • Erik Jones and the No. 20 STANLEY Wish For Our Heroes Toyota Camry team started the race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway from the 14th position and finished stage one 39th.

  • Rolling off from the 14th position, Jones moved in to the top 10 by lap five and in to the top five on lap 16.

  • With fast lap times, but reporting that the STANLEY Camry was too tight in traffic, the team pitted on lap 41 under caution for four tires, fuel and adjustments. Stalling the car on pit road, Jones dropped to 15th on the lap 46 restart.

  • Following a strong restart, Jones moved up to ninth on lap 47. Unfortunately, on the next lap while battling for position, Jones collided with the No. 2 machine and sustained heavy damage to the No. 20 Camry ending the team’s day with a 39th-place finish.


 

Additional Notes

  • Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin finished sixth, Martin Truex, Jr. finished 27th and Kyle Busch finished 37th.


 

ERIK JONES, No. 20 STANLEY Wish For Our Heroes Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

What happened in the accident with Brad Keselowski?

“I just got loose and made a mistake. I didn’t think Brad (Keselowski) would be so tight on me and I just lost it. It’s my fault. I feel bad for the 2 (Keselowski) and I feel bad for our team as well. It’s a shame, we had a good Stanley Camry and I just hate seeing it come down like that. I just wasn’t anticipating enough and I drove in too hard for it. It’s all good. We’ll move on. Wish we would have had a good day. Our car was really strong and we had a shot to probably win today. Just didn’t work out.”

 

What has the racing been like so far in this race?

“Really challenging. That’s part of why I was making that move and being aggressive with it. I was just trying to get track position. I made a mistake on pit road and stalled it. I was just trying to get back up there. We had a good restart and I was just hoping I could get some good track position back. Tried to get in there and get another spot and it just didn’t quite work out.”

 

Next Race: Teams now had to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 15, 2019, for the first race of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. The race is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN Radio and SIRIUS XM Channel 90.