Jones wins Vegas pole
LAS VEGAS — Erik Jones surprised the field by winning the pole Friday for the opening race of the NASCAR Cup series playoffs, turning a lap in 28.705 seconds and narrowly edging Joey Logano.
Jones opened the first weekend of the 10-race postseason by earning the second pole of his Cup Series career. The 22-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver is the youngest pole-position winner for a Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“You can’t start them off any better than that,” Jones said. “We’ve got a long way to go this weekend, but we’ve got the speed to do it. … Was it maybe unexpected to outsiders, or people that aren’t in our group? Probably, but we’ve been consistently setting the bar high. For us, it was not a big surprise to be quick.”
Logano did his lap in 28.708 seconds in his Team Penske Ford to join Jones on the front row in the starting grid for Sunday’s race. Denny Hamlin was third, followed by Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.
Jones is in the 16-driver playoff field for the first time, joining Alex Bowman as debut playoff contenders for the title.
Jones had just one previous pole in his first 65 Cup Series races, but the youngster is quietly making progress. He earned his first career victory by holding off Martin Truex Jr. in overtime at Daytona International Speedway in July, and he has six top-10 finishes in eight races since that breakthrough.
“We struggled at the start (of the season),” Jones said. “Around Daytona, I started to find the feel I was looking for, and we just refined that day by day, week by week.”
Jones knows he isn’t a favorite to earn a spot among the final four contenders for the title alongside presumptive front-runners Busch, Harvick and Truex — who will start 10th Sunday — but he hopes to ride his momentum as far as it will go.
“I would say there’s probably a few dark horses” for the title, Jones said. “I don’t think we’re the only ones. The Big Three are obviously the favorites … but somebody has got to fill that other spot.”