Teenager Erik Jones turned his first NASCAR Xfinity Series pole at Texas Motor Speedway into his first series victory Friday night, schooling NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stars Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. en route to the checkered flag in the 19th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts 300.
Jones, 18, held off Keselowski on a restart on lap 175 of the scheduled 200 around Texas Motor Speedway’s high-banked, 1.5-mile quad-oval for a margin of victory of 1.624-seconds in the first night race of the season. Jones’ first series win came in his ninth start. In the process Jones became the second-youngest series winner at Texas at 18 years, 10 months, 11 days—a record set last year by Chase Elliott at 18 years, 4 months and 7 days when he scored his first series victory in this event. Continue reading