By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
There were no teammates during Sunday’s final restart with two laps to go at Pocono Raceway. Just ask Erik Jones.
The first-year Joe Gibbs Racing driver restarted third behind teammates Kyle Busch and Daniel Suarez and wasted no time to make it interesting heading into Turn 1. The No. 20 Toyota dove low to make it three-wide for the lead, which eventually cost him and Suarez a shot at race winner Busch.
“That’s the first time we’ve all got up there and raced for the win,” Jones said of his teammates. “At this point, it’s not that much different [how we race]. We’re all doing what we can to win, charging hard.
“You do what you do to try and win.”
The move, however brave, cost Jones more than helped him. The 22-year-old lost momentum for the following two corners and fell to finish fifth in the Gander Outdoors 400.
Despite the late fall, Jones leaves Pocono pleased. Sunday was just his third top-five finish of 2018 and it comes just three weeks after his first Cup Series win at Daytona.
“It’s good to have a shot to win these things and to be in position,” he said. “That’s a good rebound from last week; New Hampshire was a tough one. It’s good to run up front and lead some laps.”
Leading 11 laps, Jones earned his second Pocono top five in just four starts. But it wasn’t his easiest day in Pennsylvania.
“It was a challenging race, just very track-position sensitive,” he said. “Whoever got out front, they were there. The No. 4 [Kevin Harvick] was the class of the field but we stayed up in the top five all day and took a shot at it in the end. It didn’t stick.”
