SPARTA, Ky. — A miserable stretch for Brandon Jones continued, Thursday, in the Bluegrass State.
Rounding Turn 2 on the opening lap of the Shady Rays 200, Jeb Burton got loose and spun. Jones went up high to avoid him, but clipped the back-end of Burton’s car.
“It’s just unfortunate,” he said. “We had a good race car, I thought. I’m sure my spotter is kicking me in the head right now (sic). He told me to go low, but I never saw him move up until it was too late, so you can’t drive these things on instinct – you can’t go off of what you think can happen – because then it’s too late, so I hate it for these guys.”
Jones brought up what other drivers mentioned throughout the race; the filthy state of the track surface.
“I made a comment before the race got going that the track was filthy, so you think everybody else is taking note of that too,” he said. “I kind of expected something like that to happen. It’s just unfortunate.”
It’s the second time in three races Jones was taken out in a first lap wreck. After winning the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway that same day, he got turned by Austin Cindric in the XFINITY Series race an hour later.
It’s also the third straight finish of 36th or worse. His race, Saturday, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ended when an oil line broke, halfway through the Pennzoil 150.
He’s still well within a comfortable position to make the playoffs, thanks to his victory earlier this season at Phoenix Raceway.
Jones enters the second race of the Kentucky double-header ninth in points, 213 back of Chase Briscoe.
As for Burton, the driver who triggered the incident, he ended the night in Kentucky in 34th.
