Top Dog: Erik Jones
Besides the sport of NASCAR, I am a huge tennis fan. Over the past two weeks, I have consumed media and television more than I probably should have to watch the illustrious Wimbledon Championships. This time around, both the men’s and women’s fields were somewhat unpredictable due to several factors. In the end, several underdogs made deep runs, with one even coming out on top with a title and another falling just short of glory.
In outside ways, the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (July 10) reminded me of that. The new, “improved” superspeedway style of racing at Atlanta gave mostly everyone a shot to win, with several underdogs looking to hit a winner and land in victory lane. A wild race saw one underdog come moments away from an upset for the ages, while another salvaged a strong top five. That would be Erik Jones, who survived the new beast of racing in Georgia to earn a fourth-place finish.
The last time the circuit visited a track with superspeedway racing, Jones made a move at Talladega Superspeedway on the final lap in the tri-oval that likely keeps him awake at night. With another prime opportunity, he was ready to cash in.
It didn’t start out great, though. After finishing 14th in stage one, Jones got into the wall early in stage two. Fortunately, there was very little impact from it and it even helped Jones avoid a big wreck. The Byron, Mich. native was a factor at the front of the field from the midpoint of stage two on. In the final stage, his Petty GMS Motorsports team suffered a range of emotions.
Petty GMS teammate Ty Dillon was involved in his second accident of the race when Garrett Smithley experienced an issue and slowed in front of Dillon. At the same time, Jones drove to the lead with just over 85 laps to go, putting his No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevrolet in contention for the victory.
Erik Jones is fifth under this caution.
The last time the No. 43 won at Atlanta:
March 20, 1977.#NASCAR #QuakerState400
— Daniel McFadin (@danielmcfadin) July 10, 2022
Not many drivers had more scares than Jones in the closing stages. Drivers spun in front of and behind him several times in the final part of the event, but the 26-year-old kept it clean, putting him in a strong position to fight for the win.
Jones lined up in sixth on the final restart. He quickly pushed eventual race winner Chase Elliott past Martin Truex Jr. and ultimately to the lead. The No. 43 got side-by-side with Corey LaJoie for…
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