Five drivers earn career-high finishes at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Five drivers in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 earned the highest finishes in their Cup Series career Saturday night.

Among the five were race winner Erik Jones, who picked up his first win in 57th Cup Series start.

“What an awesome day, I am out of breath,” Jones said. “Too much smoke in the car from that burnout. I can barely breathe. What an awesome finish.”

Ty Dillon picked up his first top-10 finish of his career with his sixth-place showing. His previous best was an 11th-place finish twice.

“It feels good to get that under my belt,” Dillon said to The Racing Experts.

Jeffrey Earnhardt, running for Jay Robinson’s team, earned an 11th-place run, besting a previous high of 21st in this year’s Daytona 500.

“We avoided the wrecks, we got a little bit of damage, but nothing too bad,” Earnhardt said.

D.J. Kennington, competing for the single-car Gaunt Brothers Racing, earned a 13th-place finish—bests for him and his team. Their previous high was a 20th-place effort at Talladega in May.

“We ran in the top-10 most of the night, passed them for the lead at one point there, I was pretty excited,” he said.

Ray Black Jr. earned a 16th-place finish in his fourth career start. His previous best was a 34th-place run at Texas Motor Speedway last November.

The next Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race will be next Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway for the Quaker State 400.

SOURCES
Racing-Reference.info
Toyota Racing