In a wild war of attrition that went to two overtimes, Erik Jones outdueled Martin Truex Jr. on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway to seize the first victory of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.
In a Coke Zero Sugar 400 that went eight laps beyond its scheduled 160, Jones passed the reigning series champion on the backstretch of the final lap and held on to win by .125 seconds. Jones battled back from damage sustained in a multicar wreck on Lap 65, an accident that cost him a lap.
The final circuit was the only one Jones led.
“How about that race, boys and girls?” Jones shouted to the fans in the grandstands after his celebratory burnout in front of the flag stand. “My first Cup win, My first win at Daytona, my first superspeedway win—what an awesome day, man!
“There’s so much smoke in the car from that burnout, I can hardly breathe, but what an awesome finish.”
The Fraternal Order of The Go Fast
This week Ol Skid-Marc blew all the players out of the water! Skidz, obviously, used his crystal ball to select Eric Jones this week at Daytona. His timing in selecting young Jones to win his first race, his first restrictor plate race and his very first win at Daytona is quite remarkable! All this good mojo at Daytona paid Ol Skidz 40 points!
The Movers and Shakers
The restrictor plate racing at Daytona took its toll on many players this week.
Lonna The Quilt Angel joins Ol Skid-Marc scoring 40 points this week. However, The Quilt Angel was riding shotgun with, and rooting loudly for, “the bumper car chauffeur”, and the driver responsible for two of the “Big Ones” at Daytona, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. With her big score this week, The Quilt Angel takes over the fantasy league lead this week.
Doing almost as well this week is Zee, aka Sissy and Jeremy The Coach. Sissy and The Coach racked up a very nifty 35 points via Martin Truex, Jr’s second-place finish.
Edie The Las Vegas Super Star emerged this week as the third highest scorer, adding a mediocre 19 points from Jimmie Johnson’s 23rd place finish, after all this race turned into a high-speed demolition derby!
Meanwhile, Carlton The Doorman salvaged 18 points while rooting for “Freaky Fast” Kevin Harvick.
Rounding out the top five scorers this week is the pair of Lindas. Both Linda R. The Lemonade Lefty and Linda B. the Cookie Mom were supporting Kyle Busch this week. These ladies added 13 points to their second segment totals.
As was mentioned previously, Daytona turned into a 180 mph blender, turning perfectly good race cars into piles of crumpled sheet metal, and turning our fantasy league upside down!
The biggest mover this week is Zee, aka Sissy. By adding 35 points to her totals this week, and being in the bottom half of the scoring pylon last week, Sissy rocketed up the leaderboard eight (8) positions to land in 7th place.
Also making a big move this week is Edie The Las Vegas Super Star. The Vegas Super Star shot up five (5) spots to now reside in 12th place.
Meanwhile, Lonna The Quilt Angel and Carole, aka, Rudy, moved four (4) places when the checkered flag waved at Daytona. The Quilt Angel moved up four places to take over the fantasy league lead this week. But Rudy fell off of the deep end and now sits in 17th place.
A&M Aggie Sue and Jeremy The Coach jumped around on the leaderboard three (3) places. When all was said and done at Daytona Aggie Sue dropped three positions to sit in 13th place. However, The Coach stepped up his game and climbed up three places to reside in 18th place.
Rounding out the top five movers is a group of six players, Jerry The Buschwacker, Doug The Gandy Candy Man, Jim, aka Chiefy, Ol Skid-Marc, David The Mudslinging Throttle Jockey, and Bernie The Bay Area Bandit.
This week Skidz scored 40 points, moved up two places, and finally escaped from “The Outhouse”! But The Buschwacker, The Candy Man, Chiefy, The Throttle Jockey, and The Bay Area Bandit all slipped down two places to hang out in 3rd, 8th, 14th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd, respectively.
Straight From the Crapper
This week “The Crappiesr Pick of The Week” award is shared by five players who only managed to score a single point at Daytona. Those five sharing the award this week include Carole, aka Rudy, Snoopy Dawn, A&M Aggie Sue, AmberThe Cheddar Head, and Dan The Numbers Cruncher.
As was mentioned above, Ol Skid-Marc was evicted from “The Outhouse”. The new occupant of “The Outhouse” this week is Bernie The Bay Area Bandit.
Next weekend NASCAR rolls into Sparta, KY, and the Kentucky Speedway.
TIL NEXT TIME, PULL YOUR GLOVES UP, FLIP YOUR VISOR DOWN, AND LET’S GO RACIN”!