Date: July 23, 2020
Event: Super Start Batteries 400 (Round 19 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Kansas Speedway (1.5-mile Oval)
Format: 267 laps (3 Stages: 80 laps / 160 laps / 267 laps)
Start/Finish: 21st/5th (Running, Completed 267 of 267 laps)
Race Winner: Denny Hamlin
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Busch
Stage 2 Winner: Brad Keselowski
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1 – 80)
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81 – 160)
Stage 3 Recap (Laps 161 – 267)
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Reser’s “Thanks Employees” Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
How much of a boost is another solid finish for you and this team?
“This is what we needed; we needed a really good points day. It kind of seems like we’ve been in this spot the last couple of years unfortunately. It feels good to climb out of it. The Reser’s Camry was really good. We started really deep and just could never quite get up to the front and get some clean air. I kind of made a mistake on that last restart, I was trying to push too hard to get to the outside and gave up some ground there on those guys and had to make that back up. Good effort. Pit crew did good and the team gave me a good car. We just have to keep doing that and keep racking these points up and hopefully get a win.”
How do you balance aggressiveness and patience with the restarts when points are so important?
“Me and Chris (Gayle, crew chief) had that talk this week and just saying you need to be more aggressive on restarts. It’s there and you can make those moves, but they’re risky. It comes with risks and getting in wrecks and we saw a few of those tonight, big wrecks. It’s aggressively patient I guess. You have to take them as they come. Definitely have to try to make the big moves and makeup the spots because they’re had to make up as the run goes and you get strung out. I thought we had a few good restarts and a few bad restarts, probably evened out. A good day.”
You rallied from a mid-pack starting spot to race your way up to the front. Talk about your fifth-place finish tonight.
“I wish I could have played it over a little bit differently. The last restart wasn’t very good. We restarted sixth and that’s a good spot to be in and I tried to jump to the top and it just didn’t go anywhere, and we lost some ground and we never really got it back. A good day. The Reser’s Camry was really fast. We needed a good day. We had a good day with speed enough to win. We just never got up front. We will take it. Good points day. I’m sure we moved up there a little bit so we will keep pushing with that.”
Does it feel good to start getting some of the results you feel like you have the speed for?
“Yes, it’s always frustrating when you go week-to-week and have things happen and go wrong and you can’t ever get the results. I feel like we can run top-five every week, if we don’t have any mistakes. We didn’t today. We just have to keep doing it. If you are in that spot, you are going to have the opportunity to win one. Any of those guys in the top-five, six even could have won the race. It just mattered how it was going to shake out. So, you just have to be in that mix.”
How was the race overall and how does it feel to be cutting into the points deficit for the Playoffs?
“It was good. We started pretty deep in the field and were able to get some good track position early and then finally, we got up towards the top-five there at the end, which is what we needed to do. I felt like we kind of had maxed out balance and handling, we just needed to get some better air on our car. Once we kind of got up there, I felt like our Reser’s Camry came around a little bit more and we had some speed that we could have contended for the win. We had the day we needed. We had some guys have some issues and we got some good stage points, and then obviously, got a good finish, and cut the deficit by quite a bit. That’s the kind of day we needed, and the kind of day we need for the next seven. But if we can keep running like that, I have a feeling we can knock out a win here, hopefully, pretty soon.”
Additional Notes:
Up Next: The NASCAR Cup Series now heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, August 2, 2020. Coverage of the race will begin at 3:00 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN radio and SIRIUS XM Channel 90.