
NASCAR Xfinity Series at Dover 2016 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction
Erik Jones won his second NASCAR Xfinity Series race of the season Saturday and took home an additional $100,000 as the Dash 4 Cash champion in the Ollie's Bargain Outlet 200 at Dover International Speedway.
The 19-year-old phenom led 76 of 120 laps and held off challenges from Darrell Wallace Jr. and Alex Bowman to take the checkered flag, which set off a raucous celebration, as seen in this tweet courtesy of NASCAR Xfinity:
Here is a rundown of the top 10 finishers, with full results available at NASCAR.com:
| 1 | Erik Jones | 20 |
| 2 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | 6 |
| 3 | Alex Bowman | 88 |
| 4 | Justin Allgaier | 7 |
| 5 | Ty Dillon | 3 |
| 6 | Elliott Sadler | 1 |
| 7 | Joey Logano | 22 |
| 8 | Matt Tifft | 18 |
| 9 | Daniel Suarez | 19 |
| 10 | Brennan Poole | 48 |
Jones moved from seventh to fifth in the standings with the win, but Elliott Sadler maintained the top spot. Here is a look at where things currently stand with regard to the championship picture:
| 1 | Elliott Sadler | 349 | Leader | 1 |
| 2 | Daniel Suarez | 346 | -3 | 0 |
| 3 | Ty Dillon | 319 | -30 | 0 |
| 4 | Justin Allgaier | 317 | -32 | 0 |
| 5 | Erik Jones | 309 | -40 | 2 |
| 6 | Brendan Gaughan | 305 | -44 | 0 |
| 7 | Brandon Jones | 290 | -59 | 0 |
| 8 | Brennan Poole | 282 | -67 | 0 |
| 9 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | 268 | -81 | 0 |
| 10 | Ryan Reed | 244 | -105 | 0 |
Justin Allgaier and Ty Dillon started on the front row by virtue of their Dash 4 Cash heat wins, but Jones seized the lead just 20 laps in with this impressive move:
After 33 laps at the front of the pack, Jones was overtaken by Bowman, who was making his 2016 debut in the No. 88 JR Motorsports car.
Bowman showed no signs of rust, and former NASCAR star Kenny Wallace liked what he saw out of the 23-year-old Arizona native:
JR Motorsports owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. was impressed as well, as he praised Bowman's performance at the Monster Mile:
Bowman was in front for 33 laps, but Jones once again seized the lead by squeezing underneath him on Lap 78:
Jones was cruising and seemingly en route to victory, but just the second caution flag of the day came out on Lap 109 when Brendan Gaughan's No. 62 car spun out:
That gave the rest of the field a chance to overtake Jones on the ensuing restart, but the youngster showed fantastic poise by pulling away immediately and finishing the race in dominant fashion.
Many view him as the future of NASCAR, and after easily beating out Sprint Cup regulars such as Joey Logano and Paul Menard on Saturday, he showed why he was deserving of that praise once again.
As the only Xfinity Series regular with multiple victories this season, Jones further established himself as a threat to win his first championship at that level.
He remains 40 points out of the top spot, but he leads the series with six top-five finishes in 10 races, and since the Xfinity Series is utilizing the Chase format this season, it means Jones is locked in to a playoff spot.
Jones was clearly the class of the field Saturday, and he may have cemented himself as the title favorite in the process.
Post-Race Reaction
Jones was excellent throughout the race, but his victory may not have been possible without some effective strategy from his crew chief.
According to Joe Menzer of FoxSports.com, Jones was worried about how the decision to stay on the track rather than pitting late in the race would impact his chances: "At first I couldn't see how many came to pit road, so I wasn't too sure. I was a little anxious to see how many came and how many stayed out. Fortunately, enough stayed out to make it viable for us to still get the win."
While Jones was quite impressive, the most eye-opening showing of the day may have come courtesy of Bowman, who started his first NASCAR race in seven months. Per Reid Spencer of NASCAR.com, Bowman admitted that he wasn't sure what to expect:
"I was a little worried, being so rusty. Obviously, you can't just take a car to the race track and go test anymore [because of NASCAR rules]. I think Friday morning [before practice], I was probably the most nervous I've been in years, as far as getting in the race car.
This is one of the toughest places we come. 'Can I still do this? Am I going to mess up, make stupid mistakes?'... I haven't given feedback on a race car in seven months either. I didn't really do a good job of that throughout practice, but I think [crew chief] Dave [Elenz] overcame it and gave me a really good piece for the race.
"
Although Bowman had a great car Saturday, Logano was a non-factor and wasn't pleased with what he had to work with, according to the Associated Press (h/t USA Today):
"We just weren't fast today. Straight up. We may have missed at the beginning part of the race and made some adjustments to get better but, gosh, we were just slow. There is no good answer behind it. We could have lucked into a second-place finish if we were fourth instead of third on that last restart because the inside lane doesn't go. That would have been a lucky second though and not representative of what we had out there.
"
Logano was the biggest name in the race by far and was expected to vie for the win, but he was never a threat, which gives him plenty to think about entering Sunday's Sprint Cup event.
Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.
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