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Erik Jones Seeking Third Straight Major Victory in All American 400
Kyle Busch Motorsports Driver Comes In Hot Off Winchester 400 and Snowball Derby Win
This year's running of the All American 400 at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville (TN) has a bunch of story lines. A championship is on the line in the newly formed southern Super Series presented by Sunoco, hot drivers are coming in from across North America to earn a prestigious guitar in Nashville's victory lane and more.
Perhaps the biggest story started 11 months ago with a Snowball Derby victory for then-16-year-old Erik Jones from Byron, Michigan.
Just last month he captured the Winchester 400 and punched his ticket for a chance at three straight wins in major Super Late Model events this weekend in the All American 400.
"These are three of the biggest Super Late Model races of the year and to even have the chance to win them all in a row, it would really be something else," said Jones. "To win any one of those races at all would be a great accomplishment for anyone. We have a really good shot at it too and I'm really excited."
Jones seeks his first All American 400 win in his first start at the Fairgrounds. The feat would make him the third driver to win all three races and the first ever to do it consecutive order. Only Gary St. Amant and Butch Miller have won all three and Miller won his over a two-year stretch, but not all three in a row.
"I've never really ran at Nashville before other than in practice last year for the boss (Kyle Busch)," said Jones. "Having a shot at winning the All-American would be really amazing and to potentially join a pretty impressive list of drivers that have won that, the Winchester 400 and the Snowball Derby. I never would've thought in my wildest dreams that I would have this chance."
Jones won both races, with almost two separate teams. The Snowball Derby win last December at Pensacola, Florida's Five Flags Speedway came Jones' family team. This season's Winchester 400 victory came with Jones on board a Kyle Busch Motorsports entry. Busch himself was in the hunt for an All American 400 win last season only to get tangled up in a wreck late in the race.
"My Crew Chief, Rich Lushes is a big part of this, he was a huge part of me winning the Derby last year," added Jones. "Having him on the pit box for these next two big shows (Including the Snowball Derby) is big. We have great chemistry together and will be a huge benefit in terms of my chances."
The Michigan driver is not the only one going for a big win. Chase Elliott could capture all four of the majors with a win. Elliott finished second to Jones in the Winchester 400.
"Chase and I have raced quite a bit over the past couple of years," said Jones of his competitor. "We've had some great battles. He's also won the World Crown too, so he'll be going all out, but we've got some business to take care of too and it wouldn't surprise me at all if it came down to us in the final laps."
Joining Jones in Nashville will be former 400 winners Mike Garvey, TJ Reaid, Eddie Hoffman, Jr. and Ross Kenseth along with Southern Super Series championship contenders Bubba Pollard and Daniel Hemric. SSS winners Augie Grill, and Kyle Benjamin and World Crown 300 Preston Peltier will be in the hunt along with Redbud 300 winner Johnny VanDoorn. They will be joined by John Hunter Nemechek, Austin Theriault, Stephen Nasse and many others.
The All American 400 will decided the season long title as drivers from all over will flock to Nashville for the November 2nd race at the Fairgrounds Speedway (TN). Teams will practice on Friday, November 1st, but qualifying and the feature events will take place on Saturday.
For more information on the Southern Super Series, visit SouthernSuperSeries.com. The Facebook page for the Southern Super Series is located at www.facebook.com/southernsuperseries and on Twitter it’s @SoSuperSeries. For advertising or sponsorship questions, please contact the track representatives. For media inquiries, please contact Matt Kentfield at 51 Sports via matt@51sports.net.
October 28, 2013
