Jones almost dealt Ace Speedway USARacing Pro Cup Series ‘winning hand’

Teddy Jones Racing and 14-year-old driver Blake Jones made the trek from their East Tennessee home-base in Sevierville to Altamahaw, N.C., to compete in the second United Speed Alliance Racing Pro Cup Series event in 2011 this past weekend.

While the weather conditions were unseasonably cold for the first weekend of April, racing on the .400-mile, 12-degree banked oval was heated in the White’s International Trucks 250 presented by Dave’s Discount Furniture. The event produced 12 caution flags which slowed the action for a total of 84 laps, with one red-flag period.

Jones timed-in fourth during qualifying to earn a second-row starting position, and throughout the 250-lapper stayed within sight of the race leader to bring home a stellar fourth-place finish and earn the Rookie of the Race award. During the intense running of the feature event, the only time Jones ran outside of the top 10, while chauffeuring the Mountain Dew, AMP Energy Drink, Baker’s Wrecker Service, Breeden Paving, Chambers Market & Grill, Colonial Loan, NAPA Auto Parts of Sevierville, Sevierville Import & Truck Center, WD Performance, Fast Cash Pawn, St. Baldrick’s Foundation, eXlander Designs, with special thanks to W.C. and Tracy Mills of Old Town, Fla., No. 80 Dodge Charger, was following his mandatory pit stop.

“We had a really good race, a real strong run for our team,” said the New Center Middle School junior-high student reflecting back on the event. “Our car was very good in the early going, but following the pit stop the car tightened up and we had to live with that until the end. I just couldn’t get the car to go through the corners like we needed to. We battled there down the stretch to the finish with A.J. Frank, swapping position back and forth as we fought for third place. He got us there at the end, but it was fun racing like that.

“After having trouble with his own car and it not being ready to race, he (A.J.) was driving our backup car and we were kind of teammates. So with both of our cars finishing inside the top-five, coming home in positions three and four, it was a win-win deal for Teddy Jones Racing. For our race team, following our disappointment at the season opener, getting this fourth place finish was a confidence booster for us. We hope to build on our momentum from the Ace Speedway event as we next race at Dillon (S.C.) Speedway in a couple of weeks.”

Blake and the TJR team entered the season-opening USARacing Pro Cup Series event last month in the Sunshine State at New Smyrna Speedway with high expectations. While the final results didn’t produce the finish team had hoped for, it left them knowing they were definitely a front-runner and in contention to possibly visit victory lane. Young Blake started from the outside pole and led on three occasions for a total of 28 laps, before eventually being sidelined with parts (suspension) failure just prior to halfway in the 250-lap event.

“Yeah, we were disappointed with how the race wound up for us,” said Jones this week from his race shop. “But after our team got back home and we talked everything over, all in all we were pretty satisfied with our weekend at New Smyrna Speedway. Maybe some might say we are setting the bar too high with our expectations, with this being our rookie season racing in the USARacing Pro Cup Series. But we’ve got a very good team in place, and we feel we’ve got a legitimate chance to win whenever we unload anywhere we race.

“We had a good car during practice down in Florida and were able to back our practice runs up and qualified outside of the front row. We led the opening five laps, and then again from lap 75 to 118, when we dropped out with mechanical problems. I believe if not for the deal that parked us in the pits for the night early, we had a good shot at winning the race – or at worst bringing home a solid top-five finish.”

Thursday through Saturday, April 7-9, the Teddy Jones Racing team and wheel-man Blake will compete in the country’s richest Super Late Model race. The event, simply called “THE RACE” will be held at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway and pay $75,000-to-win with sanctioning by the Pro All Stars Series.

To learn more about Blake Jones, visit his Web site at www.BlakeJonesRacing.com.