Jeffrey Earnhardt scores career best finish at Atlanta

HAMPTON, Ga. — Jeffrey Earnhardt scored his best career NASCAR Xfinity Series finish of sixth Saturday at Atlanta, piloting the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Earnhardt’s prior best finish was 12th-place on two occasions.

“It’s a sore career-best, it’s a bummer man,” Earnhardt said. “You’re restarting outside front row on green-white-checkered, and you know you’re guys are giving you everything to go win a race. It’s just hard restarts on the outside here.”

Earnhardt showed speed throughout the day, finishing seventh in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2.

At Daytona last weekend, Earnhardt started second and led 29 laps. Earnhardt’s next scheduled race is at Texas Motor Speedway in April.

Earnhardt is not scheduled to compete next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and offered his insight on a contingency plan to keep his playoff eligibility in the series.

“More seat time is only going to be better but, I want it to be in good equipment if I’m going to do it,” Earnhardt said. “And I want it to be in a Toyota. Those guys have been loyal to me, I want to be loyal to them.”

After the first two races of the season, Earnhardt sits seventh in driver’s standings, 17 points ahead of the playoff cutoff.

Dominic Aragon contributed to this report.

SOURCES
Racing-Reference.info