Jones on career-best second-place finish: ‘It’s a bummer’

RELATED: Results | Stage recaps | At-track photo gallery BRISTOL, Tenn. – It was a career-best finish for Erik Jones but it wasn't a career-first win so the youngster from Michigan still has much to accomplish in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. But he’s getting there. During Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Jones led more than half the 500 laps after starting from the pole, clearly had the better car at times and was chasing down fellow Toyota driver Kyle Busch in the closing laps. Then the race ended, time expired, Busch proved uncatchable. Second place never seemed so good and yet so bad at the same time. RELATED: Finishing second a 'bummer' “You don't want to sound like you're whining or being a sore loser by saying it sucks to run second, but it's a bummer,” Jones said of his runner-up finish in his No. 77 Furniture Row Racing entry. “It hurts. You know you want to win every race you’re in. This was the first shot that I really had to come really close to it in the Cup Series. “Bristol is a really good race track for myself. I thought we had a shot at it all night, led a ton of laps.” “A ton” being 260 and they came, for the most part, in big chunks – 45 here, 37 there, and 107 toward the end. His laps led total for this season before Saturday night? Fifty. His final pass for the lead came on pit road when he went from second to first during a yellow flag following a spin by Chase Elliott. Busch returned the favor on the track with 56 laps remaining, overtaking Jones for the 21st and final lead change. RELATED: Busch fends off Jones Jones’ last four starts have resulted in top-10 finishes of eighth, 10th, third and now second. First can’t be too far off, can it? “I think we had this one circled,” crew chief Chris Gayle said. “We knew this one was probably our best attempt at getting into the (playoffs). “We can still go to Richmond and do it, we just didn’t get any laps at Richmond (in the spring race). We wrecked on Lap 3 so we don’t really know what we have there. “This was one where we felt like we had a great race car the first race, we could go back, work hard and we could contend to win. We did, just unfortunately one spot short, right?” Jones is 16th in points, but without a win he might as well be 26th. Three drivers lower in points have been to Victory Lane, meaning they will qualify for one of the 16 available playoff spots and keep those without wins, such as Jones, out of the postseason picture. Bristol was an opportunity to change that outlook. “I felt like we had a really strong car in the spring,” Jones said of a top-20 run at BMS earlier this year. “Felt like I could improve myself and improve what we had in the race car compared to what we had there. “We did that. We qualified on the pole … led a ton of laps. We just didn't quite keep up with it. “Yeah, this was our best shot to win. Did I feel any pressure? No. I was just actually really calm this week. I really had a sense we were going to run really well. I had a really good feeling about it.” Jones’ stay in the No. 77 is coming to an end; he’ll move over to the No. 20 at JGR in 2018 where he will replace 2003 series champ Matt Kenseth. Saturday night, he found himself battling Kenseth on numerous occasions for position on the track. Afterward, the two were seated side-by-side in the media center. It could have been awkward. It wasn’t. In two weeks when the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to action at Darlington Raceway, Jones will renew his attempt to earn that first career victory. The disappointment of Bristol will be forgotten. Saturday night, it was still fresh. “It’s more disappointing just because you saw him drive his guts out all day,” Gayle said of his driver. “I feel like we had the best car and I think we had the best driver. Just got a little snookered there at the end. … “I’m proud of him. It’s disappointing but I think it just shows the talent level he has. They always tell you that you have to lose one or two before you win one and I guess this was the first one we had to lose. I guess that’s why it stings a little bit.”