Track Specs: Tri-County Motor Speedway, .400-mile oval/125-lap feature
Jones' finish: 12th
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Sept. 13, 2021) - Conner Jones fought a tight-handling race car over much of Saturday's HarrisonsWorkwear.com 225 to earn a 12th-place finish in his No. 88 Jones Utilities Construction Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.
In practice on Friday, Jones had good speed and made minor adjustments to tighten the car up for Saturday's event. That would become a major theme for the weekend. Unloading on Saturday, Jones and crew chief Bryan Shaffer had to adjust to older tires, which made Jones' handling jump to the tight side. In qualifying, the tight condition grew more pronounced and Jones ended up 18th on the starting grid.
The tight condition grew worse on the banked, multi-groove speedway, which featured new pavement at one end and older asphalt at the other. At the first caution, Jones ducked onto pit road for an adjustment to help his handling, returning to the track in 16th position. The car was still on the tight side, so at the next caution flag, Jones returned to pit road for more of the same adjustment and came back out in 18th position.
This adjustment made the car manageable and the 15-year-old Virginia driver was able to move up through the field over the remaining distance to finish 12th.
Mini Tyrrell earned his first CARS Racing Tour victory on the night, holding off Sam Yarbrough for the win. Point leader Bobby McCarty was third, with rookie leader Kaden Honeycutt fourth and defending series champion Jared Fryar in fifth.
Jones is scheduled to race in the annual ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Sept. 25.
Conner Jones, driver No. 88 Jones Utilities Chevrolet team
"Tri-County Motor Speedway is a fun but tricky track with one corner being freshly paved and the other side being old asphalt, but it is still one of my favorite tracks to race on. Our Jones Utilities Construction Chevrolet was just too tight all day on Saturday, but the last adjustment got us to where I could move up. We'll get it tuned up for Martinsville and see what we can do there. I'm looking forward to it."