Top Dog: Erik Jones
How do you kick off a NASCAR Cup Series inaugural race at a track? Well, you cannot leave out the all-time winningest driver and one third of a trio with a record-holding seven titles from the event. Leading up to the first Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway (June 5), Friday’s festivities included Friday’s Richard Petty Day celebrating “The King” himself. It included the state of Illinois officially proclaiming June 3 as Richard Petty Day.
As a part of the celebration, Petty was able to take a lap in a replica of his 1981 Daytona 500-winning Buick Regal. Sadly, he did not take as many laps as he wanted as he did pacing the field at Darlington Raceway in 2017.
Ride along with Richard as he makes the ceremonial first lap for the Cup Series at @WWTRaceway! pic.twitter.com/uReMoDRgi5
— Petty GMS (@PettyGMS) June 4, 2022
Petty’s famous No. 43 added to a recurring theme of bringing speed to the track for Petty GMS Motorsports. Richard Petty Day was presented by Bommarito Automotive Group, and Petty GMS driver Erik Jones repped both Petty’s and Bommarito’s colors well in the Enjoy Illinois 300.
The race just outside of St. Louis, known as the ‘Gateway to the West’ was Jones’ gateway to his fifth top 10 of the season with a seventh-place finish.
In a race where passing was a challenge generally, Jones had his work cut out for him. But just like St. Louis Cardinal great Yadier Molina finding a way to constantly get the ball from home plate to second base, Jones found his way from the back of the field to the front. The 26-year-old was one of 24 drivers who had made a start at WWT Raceway previously, as Jones earned one top 10 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in three starts at the track.
The Byron, Mich. native’s progress was stagnant in stage one as he struggled with little grip, resulting in a 19th-place finish after 45 laps.
The No. 43 Bommarito Chevrolet team took two tires during a yellow in stage two…
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