Race Weekend Central

Erik Jones Sweeps XFINITY Series Practice Sessions in Texas

Erik Jones swept both of the XFINITY Series practice sessions on Thursday at Texas Motor Speedway in preparation for Friday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300

Jones was quickest in the first of two XFINITY Series practices on Thursday in Texas at a lap of 186.968 mph.

The driver of the No. 20 Toyota is the defending winner in the Lone Star State.

Ty Dillon registered the second best time of the session after just running three laps. He was over four tenths of a second slower than Jones’ fastest lap.

Brandon Jones, Daniel Suarez and Brennan Poole rounded out the top five on the speed charts. The all-time win leader in Texas, Kyle Busch was ninth quick, 5 mph behind the top speed.

The only incident was when Brendan Gaughan cut down a tire late in the session.

Much like the first session, Jones paced the second session at 183.830 mph. This time the No. 20 car was over two tenths of a second in front of second quick, Busch (182.297 mph).

Kyle Larson finished practice third on the chart, with Dillon and Suarez just behind.

No JR Motorsports team was inside the top 10. Chase Elliott led those four cars in 12th, eight tenths of a second behind Jones. His teammates Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. were all between 13th and 17th.

Poole ran 58 laps, the most out of all drivers in either of the two practices.

Drivers will next hit the track for qualifying at 4:45 p.m. Friday, followed by the 300-mile event at 8:30 p.m.

Full practice results are here and here.

About the author

Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2020 marks his sixth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be a storyteller.

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