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Michigan's Erik Jones aims to complete 'ultimate goal' in return to MIS

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Michigan native Erik Jones is in need of a win this weekend when he heads home to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway, …
Michigan native Erik Jones is in need of a win this weekend when he heads home to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway, with six races left before the playoffs begin. The FireKeepers Casino 400 is Saturday and the Consumers Energy 400 is set for Sunday. The races will be run without fans in the stands or watching from the infield due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jones, who is in the final year of his contract while driving the No.20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, sits 18th in points. He would be on the outside looking in at the playoffs — the final 10 races of the season — if the season ended today. Ten drivers have won races this season to lock themselves in one of the 16 playoff spots, including Austin Dillon and rookie Cole Custer, who were outside the top 16 when they won their race. Custer is currently 19th in the standings and Dillon is 16th. Jones,24, has 453 points and is 31 points behind William Byron, who holds the final playoff spot. “It’s always fun to come back to Michigan and race,” said Jones, who became the first driver to win Rookie of the Year honors in all three NASCAR national series — the Camping World Truck Series in 2015, Xfinity Series in 2016 and Cup Series in 2017. “I look forward to that every time. Michigan has been a good track for us overall. We’ve had some good runs and some bad runs like any place, but I always look forward to going there. Being home and having a shot to win at the home track is always cool. I’d love to go there and obviously be able to win one would be the ultimate goal. “It’s a tough place to win at. I think it’s kind of a different story every time you go there, but you have to have a really fast car. It’s a fast track, a tough track. Michigan is starting to widen out finally, so you can start to move around a little more which is fun, gives you different options. Hopefully we’ll have a fast car, get out front and get ourselves a win.” Jones’ best finish at MIS in the Cup Series was his rookie year while driving for Furniture Row Racing, finishing third in the August race, his lone top-10 finish at the two-mile superspeedway. No doubt, Jones wants to continue driving for Joe Gibbs.

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