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Brandon Jones Earns A Top-Five Finish At Lonesome Pine Raceway
Brandon Jones overcame adversity on Saturday night at Lonesome Pine Raceway in Coeburn, Va. to earn his third top-five finish of the year in United Auto Racing Association (UARA) STARS competition. Involved in a late-race accident, Jones raced from being one lap down with less than 40 laps remaining to finish in the fifth position.
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Racing for the first time at Lonesome Pine Raceway, Jones picked up significantly from first to second practice recording the second-fastest lap time during the final session. Comfortable with his car, Jones went on to post a 16.643-second lap to roll off 12th in the Courtesy Chevrolet 150.
With tires at a premium, the No. 33 Eddie Sharp Racing (ESR) team started the event with a strategy to log laps and save tires until near lap 100. Their strategy didn't work out quite as planned when the team discovered a piece of concrete stuck between the tire and rim during a pit stop near the halfway point. The team had Jones make a series of pit stops under caution to repair the No. 33 ESR Chevrolet while remaining on the lead lap.
Around lap 115, Jones was involved in an accident when another competitor made contact with the No. 33 machine on the front stretch. Jones' Chevrolet suffered mild damage, but the young driver was able to bring his car back down pit road for another series of stops for repairs. During one of the stops, Jones was unable to beat the pace car off pit road and lost one lap to the leaders.
A perfectly timed caution on lap 129 made Jones the recipient of the Lucky Dog award and allowed him to circle back around to the lead lap. With just 15 laps remaining, Jones restarted the race on the lead lap. He fought back through the pack to finish in the fifth position and secure the Pigwire Most Electrifying Move of the Race award.
"I'm really proud of my team for their effort this weekend at Lonesome Pine Raceway," commented Jones following the race. "We had several obstacles to overcome during the race, but we never gave up and we were able to pull off a top-five finish. I can't thank everyone enough for standing behind me all season; I believe that we've all grown as a team and that I've gotten stronger as a driver. I can't wait to get back in the car at Anderson [Motor Speedway] in two weeks."
Jones will be back behind the wheel in the UARA-STARS Series on Saturday, October 6, and Anderson (S.C.) Motor Speedway.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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