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KANSAS CITY, Kan.*– Erik Jones' great night had a sour ending for the second night in a row at Kansas.
A day after dominating the Camping World Truck Series race before running out of fuel, Jones ran in the top 10 for a significant portion of the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 before he crashed on lap 196.
Jones, 18, was running sixth when he crashed. As he exited turn four, his car got loose and as he corrected it he slammed into the outside wall.
“I just lost it and it’s too bad, I had such a good night going," Jones said. "We had a fast M&M’s Camry and it’s just a matter of trying to get a little better on my end and figuring out where the limit is. Unfortunately, we found it there and we’ll try to get a little better and see if we can get another shot in this thing.”
Jones, who won his first Xfinity Series race earlier this year, was making his first official start in a Sprint Cup Series car Saturday night as the substitute driver for Kyle Busch (he replaced Denny Hamlin at Bristol after the race had begun). He was immediately fast in practice and backed the speed up in the race while running near the front of the field the entire race.
Friday night he was far and away the fastest in the truck race, leading 151 of 167 laps. However, he was forced to pit with six laps to go for fuel and ended up 11th, one lap down.
As of now, Saturday night's start is his only scheduled one in the No. 18 car. Busch, who suffered a broken leg and a broken foot in February, could be back soon. And despite the crash, Jones proved*– in a limited sample size, of course*– that he's on the fast-track to more chances in the Sprint Cup Series, whether it's in the Coca-Cola 600 as Busch's sub again or at a different date in the future.
"We had good speed," Jones said. "It definitely makes me confident that we can go run with these guys. I’m excited for hopefully my next opportunity, whenever that is. It was a good night overall – a lot that I learned and a lot that I can take from it.”
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A day after dominating the Camping World Truck Series race before running out of fuel, Jones ran in the top 10 for a significant portion of the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 before he crashed on lap 196.
Jones, 18, was running sixth when he crashed. As he exited turn four, his car got loose and as he corrected it he slammed into the outside wall.
“I just lost it and it’s too bad, I had such a good night going," Jones said. "We had a fast M&M’s Camry and it’s just a matter of trying to get a little better on my end and figuring out where the limit is. Unfortunately, we found it there and we’ll try to get a little better and see if we can get another shot in this thing.”
Jones, who won his first Xfinity Series race earlier this year, was making his first official start in a Sprint Cup Series car Saturday night as the substitute driver for Kyle Busch (he replaced Denny Hamlin at Bristol after the race had begun). He was immediately fast in practice and backed the speed up in the race while running near the front of the field the entire race.
Friday night he was far and away the fastest in the truck race, leading 151 of 167 laps. However, he was forced to pit with six laps to go for fuel and ended up 11th, one lap down.
As of now, Saturday night's start is his only scheduled one in the No. 18 car. Busch, who suffered a broken leg and a broken foot in February, could be back soon. And despite the crash, Jones proved*– in a limited sample size, of course*– that he's on the fast-track to more chances in the Sprint Cup Series, whether it's in the Coca-Cola 600 as Busch's sub again or at a different date in the future.
"We had good speed," Jones said. "It definitely makes me confident that we can go run with these guys. I’m excited for hopefully my next opportunity, whenever that is. It was a good night overall – a lot that I learned and a lot that I can take from it.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!Follow @NickBromberg