Erik Jones has made a seamless transition from NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver to full-time NASCAR XFINITY Series competitor this season.
After winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship in 2015, Jones leads the NASCAR XFINITY Series with two wins and 10 top fives. Although he sits fourth in the points standings – 54 markers behind his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Daniel Suarez for first – he ranks first on the Chase Grid due to his two victories.
Jones hopes to add a third win in Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN) – the final event of the NASCAR XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash, consisting of two 20-lap Heats and a 60-lap Main. He placed 34th at the 2.5-mile track last year, but heads into the race on a hot summer stretch constructed of four top-four finishes in his last six starts, including two runner-ups.
Both of Jones’ wins this season have come in Dash 4 Cash races. The Dash 4 Cash bonus is only open to XFINITY Series regulars. The top-two full-time XFINITY Series drivers from each Heat become eligible for the Dash 4 Cash in the Main. The top eligible finisher after the Main takes home a $100,000 bonus.
“I’m looking forward to Indy for sure,” Jones said. “Indy is such a cool place for us and Indy is such a unique track to begin with, but the Dash 4 Cash is an added bonus for sure. Looking forward to getting back to the Heat race format and we’ve had a lot of success in that format, so hopefully we can go and get a win this weekend at Indy which would be pretty special.”
One of the key aspects Jones likes about the Dash 4 Cash is that the Heats help teams set their cars up for the Main, which creates better and closer racing.
“Indy is definitely unique compared to the other (Dash 4 Cash races) – we had 50 laps at Bristol and we had 50 laps at Dover as well,” he said. “[Twenty] laps at Indy is a long time still, longer than you think, but it’s still a short heat race, but we’ll be able to learn something for sure. That’s a long enough run at Indy to really feel out your car some and make some adjustments. We’ll go into it with the same mentality that we did the last three and work on our stuff and get it better and get it the best we can. I think every one of the ‘Dash 4 Cash’ races we’ve learned quite a bit about our car in the heat race and we’ve been able to make a fair amount of adjustments before the Main to get it where it needs to be.”
Source: NASCAR Wire Service
