Erik Jones Wins My Bariatric Solutions 300 At Texas

The NASCAR Xfinity Series headed to Texas Motor Speedway for the first time this season. Xfinity Series drivers were unsure what the new repave would bring. 

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup stars Erik Jones and Joey Logano set the front row in qualifying earlier Saturday morning. 45 laps made up stage one and two, and 110 laps in the final stage.

In the early laps of the race, Logano set the pace early by jumping to the lead. However, it didn’t take long for a caution to come out on lap 11 for Daniel Hemric, who got loose and hit the wall in turn two. 

The race went back green on lap 15 with Logano again out in front. But new challenger, Erik Jones, came to battle for the lead on lap 18. Just two laps later, Jones was able to take the lead and hold on to win stage one. William Byron was the highest Xfinity Series regular.

Stage Two got underway on lap 57, with Byron and Ryan Reed on the front row. There were at least three different lead changes in one lap, until Ryan Blaney finally took the lead for good. But, a caution came out on lap 61 for Daniel Suarez, who got loose and spun out off turn two.

Team Penske cars of Blaney and Logano led the way for the lap 65 restart. Logano got loose on the start and this allowed Blaney to get ahead with a big run. A caution came out, however, one lap later for a small wreck in turn three. This saw Darrell Wallace. Jr, Justin Allgaier, Tyler Reddick and Brennan Poole all get involved. Poole suffered the most damage and was done for the day. 

Stage three got underway on lap 97 with Erik Jones to the point. Jones stayed there until 70 laps to go where Ryan Blaney took the lead in turn three. 10 laps later, pit stops started to begin with Ty Dillon being the first one to pit. Jones pitted one lap earlier before Blaney did, thus allowing him to recycle in to the lead with 45 laps to go.

From there, Jones set smooth sailing on the field and held on to win his second career NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. 

There were seven leaders among 11 lead changes.

There were also seven cautions for 31 laps.

Jones led three times for 112 laps.

This was Erik Jones’s seventh career NASCAR Xfinity Series and his first of the season.

Looking ahead: The NASCAR Xfinity Series has a week off for Easter next weekend, before returning to Bristol Motor Speedway on April 22.