After working on a qualifying setup in Friday practice, team Devin Jones Racing broke into the top three in qualifying on Saturday night during the hot 60-lap Late Model Stock feature of the 60-year anniversary race night at Hickory Motor Speedway. Driving his No. 35 in the heat of the afternoon, Jones put down a 15.246 in his second qualifying lap, just .023 seconds off of the pole winner.
“After practice ended on Saturday we had some rain fall on the track,” said Jones. “This cooled the track down a lot and perhaps washed off some of the track rubber in turns 1 and 2. This made for perfect qualifying conditions once the sun heated up again. I was very pleased with our qualifying effort.”
Starting the race night in 3rd, Jones had a strong start. He battled with the 4th place car as they ran side by side for a number of laps. The other car was strong on the high side and finally pulled into 3rd. Mid way through the race, Jones found his No. 35 fading. A couple of cautions helped Jones retain his track position, but by the final five laps Jones couldn’t make up enough time to break back into the top five, finishing in sixth.
“I was very happy with our qualifying run this weekend,” said Jones. “We really have that piece of the puzzle down now. Our team is quickly getting used to the late model stock and how the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series works. We will be coming back mid-week to practice our race set up. I’m confident we’ll get our hands around it.”
“Once again I’d like to thank Tom Buzze and ‘Alabama’ for all the hard work they do at the shop and at the track,” added Jones.
Jones will race Hickory Motor Speedway again in the coming weeks to turn his strong qualifying car into a top three winner.
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Hot Night for Team Devin Jones Racing at Hickory
Jones Breaks into the Top Three in Qualifying
