Devin Jones Racing made its way back to Hickory Motor Speedway on Saturday looking to back up their top three qualifying run from their last race at the track. Going into the 100-lap Late Model Stock feature, Jones and his #35 crew were confident in their ability to capitalize on their increasing success at the historic track.
“After qualifying in 3rd at our last race, our next goal was to get on the pole,” said Jones. “We thought we might be able to gain some speed by switching the gear, but with a strong chance of rain on Friday, we didn’t get to test it out in a practice run. As a result, we went into Saturday’s qualifying with the gear change cold. We knew it could make about a tenth difference one way or the other. Unfortunately, it didn’t give us what we needed to better our spot.”
Jones qualified in 7th. He started out strong in the opening laps, closing in on the top five. A racing incident with the #88 car caused him to spin on lap 15, knocking out the toe and bending the spindle. He regrouped at the back of the field and drove hard to make up time on the leaders. He finished out the race in the 8th spot.
“The car at the start of the race was handling better than in our previous race, I thought we really could have the top three car we’ve been looking for,” said Jones. “We were battling hard with the #88 when we got together. It was just a racing incident. But even so, we battled back for a decent finish even with a car that wasn’t right.”
“We are currently talking to some Late Model experts to get more insight into our overall racing program to be sure that we have everything we need to succeed,” said Jones. “We are still in the process of sorting out this Late Model Stock car and don’t want to leave anything on the table.”
Jones will continue to race at Hickory Motor Speedway in the coming weeks as he works to bounce back for a podium finish.
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