Jones Earns Career Best ARCA Finish At Daytona

Story By: MARK RETTE / RETTE JONES RACING – DAYTONA BEACH, FL – In Saturday’s ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season opener at Daytona International Speedway, Rette Jones Racing’s Terry Jones nearly pulled off a stunner victory in the Lucas Oil Complete Engine Treatment 200 driven by General Tire.

Jones’s in his No. 30 Buck Twenty / Nortrax automobile took advantage of a strong 12th place qualifying effort to negotiate his way through the field and into the lead on Lap 45 of the 80-lap scheduled race.

For the next 25 laps of the event, Jones would keep car out front and in contention while fending off the challenges from behind which included Ken Schrader Racing’s Austin Theriault and the Cunningham Motorsports duo of Shane Lee and Dalton Sargeant.

While jockeying with Theriault for the race lead between laps 71 – 73, Theriault would use the advantage of a push and momentum to sneak past Jones’ car. Behind the lead pack, a multi-car accident brought out a caution with five laps remaining.

Despite the series’ best effort, damage to the SAFER barrier wall forced the event to be called 12.5 miles from the finish. Jones would settle for second, his first top-five finish since a fifth at Talladega Superspeedway in 2013 and a career-best at the “World Center of Racing.”

Previously Jones’ earned his last top-10 performance with an eighth place showing at Daytona in 2014 driving for Win-Tron Racing.

“I had an absolute blast out there,” said Jones. “I knew from practice we had a good car, just needed a little luck to get to the front and stay there. “I was really hoping for some rain, but it never could materialize enough to end the race. Still, I’m so proud of my teams and guys for their hard work.

“Honestly, we didn’t know we were coming to Daytona with the ARCA car until a couple weeks ago and Mark (Rette, co-owner) and the guys busted their tails to get our No. 30 Buck Twenty / Nortrax car ready. We had some new support on the car this weekend and I’m incredible appreciative to their support and hope to carry this momentum into our next ARCA race.”

Rette added, “The team did a great job and Terry drove a real smart race. We came up a few laps short, but one thing is for sure, we were there. This is a great way to kick off Rette Jones Racing’ 2017 season and hope it only gets better from here.”

From Daytona, Jones will appear at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway Sunday night to cheer on his Rette Jones Racing teammate and protégé Tyler Dippel who will make his RJR debut in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Jet Tools 150.