Erik Jones wins pole for playoff opener at Las Vegas

Jones, 22, sent a statement that his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing has the speed to compete for this season’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship, rocketing to the pole for Sunday’s playoff opener.

Jones used an average lap speed of 188.121 mph to top Joey Logano (188.101 mph) and lay claim to the top starting position in Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The pole is the first of the season for Jones and second of his career (the other was at Bristol, Tenn., last season).

“I knew we had a good car in practice but I didn’t know if we’d get the pole,” Jones said. “The track kind of came to us and I thought I knew what we needed to do adjustment-wise. We got the (car) where it needed to be and put together a really good lap.

“You can’t start them off any better than that. We have a long ways to go this weekend but we got the speed to do it.”

Jones said knowing that his team has the speed to compete, they just need to “keep it rolling.”

“I feel like we’ve been kind of under the radar. We’ve been running really well and we just got to put it together for one really good race,” he said. “I think we can do that. We’re one to watch.”

Denny Hamlin qualified third, Kyle Busch was fourth and Kevin Harvick completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 12 starting positions are Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray.

la	#	Driver	4506	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	1	28.705			188.121
2	22	Joey Logano	Ford	1	28.708	0.003	0.003	188.101
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	1	28.781	0.076	0.073	187.624
4	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	1	28.815	0.110	0.034	187.402
5	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	1	28.816	0.111	0.001	187.396
6	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	1	28.864	0.159	0.048	187.084
7	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	1	28.918	0.213	0.054	186.735
8	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	1	28.957	0.252	0.039	186.483
9	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	1	28.974	0.269	0.017	186.374
10	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	1	29.017	0.312	0.043	186.098
11	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	2	29.040	0.335	0.023	185.950
12	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	1	29.488	0.783	0.448	183.125

Round 2

Jones ended up rising to the occasion in the second round, turning in the fastest average lap speed (187.911 mph).

Harvick was second (187.833 mph) and Logano third (187.820 mph). Hamlin and Larson completed the top-five.

Also advancing to the final round were Elliott, Truex, Kyle Busch, Blaney, Bowman, McMurray and Kurt Busch.

Both Truex and Kyle Busch were sitting outside the Top 12 when both made a last-minute second qualifying attempt. They each took the green-flag just before the 10-minute session officially ended.

They ended up posting the seventh and eighth-fastest speeds, respectively.

Among those who failed to advance were Brad Keselowski, who won the last two races, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon.

Keselowski said he still felt good about trying to make it three-in-a row.

“I feel good about this year’s playoffs, we just need to avoid the breakdowns and wrecks and those things,” Keselowski said. “I think we can do that.”

13	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	1	28.936	0.199	0.001	186.619
14	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	1	28.939	0.202	0.003	186.599
15	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	3	28.942	0.205	0.003	186.580
16	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	1	28.947	0.210	0.005	186.548
17	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	3	28.953	0.216	0.006	186.509
18	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	3	28.957	0.220	0.004	186.483
19	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	3	28.962	0.225	0.005	186.451
20	21	Paul Menard	Ford	1	28.965	0.228	0.003	186.432
21	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	3	28.970	0.233	0.005	186.400
22	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	1	29.054	0.317	0.084	185.861
23	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	1	29.088	0.351	0.034	185.644
24	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	1	29.203	0.466	0.115	184.913

Round 1

Harvick, the spring race winner at Las Vegas, led the way in the first round with an average lap speed of 188.778 mph.

Logano was second (188.699 mph) and Bowman was third (188.258 mph). Larson and Bowyer completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Almirola, Blaney, Jones, Johnson and Keselowski.

Kyle Busch just made it into the second round, posting the 24th-fastest speed in Round 1. Busch had been complaining of his No. 18 car’s handling during the day in practice.

Among those also failing to advance were Regan Smith, David Ragan, A.J. Allmendinger, Ty Dillon and Darrell Wallace Jr.

Reed Sorensen in the No. 7 Chevrolet failed pre-qualifying inspection twice and elected not to make a third attempt, instead making no qualifying attempt.

5	95	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	3	29.160	0.555	0.005	185.185
26	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	1	29.199	0.594	0.039	184.938
27	38	David Ragan	Ford	3	29.233	0.628	0.034	184.723
28	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	3	29.243	0.638	0.010	184.660
29	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	3	29.252	0.647	0.009	184.603
30	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	3	29.311	0.706	0.059	184.231
31	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	1	29.538	0.933	0.227	182.815
32	72	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	1	29.890	1.285	0.352	180.662
33	99	Kyle Weatherman	Chevrolet	1	29.903	1.298	0.013	180.584
34	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	1	29.944	1.339	0.041	180.337
35	96	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Toyota	3	30.004	1.399	0.060	179.976
36	23	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	1	30.095	1.490	0.091	179.432
37	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	3	30.289	1.684	0.194	178.283
38	51	B.J. McLeod	Ford	3	30.416	1.811	0.127	177.538
39	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	1	30.667	2.062	0.251	176.085
40	7	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet

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