NEWTON, Iowa — Erik Jones will start first Sunday in the NASCAR Xfinity race at Iowa Speedway after winning his sixth pole of the season.
Jones has twice as many qualifying victories in 2016 as Kyle Busch, who is second in the series with three. But Jones is just fourth in the point standings, 55 points behind teammate Daniel Suarez, largely because he failed to finish two races.
"Just staying up on it and making good adjustments," Jones said when asked about the keys for Sunday’s race. "Everybody is going to getting their stuff better all day long, and we need to make sure we’re ahead of the curve.
Suarez will look to make it back-to-back wins after becoming the first Mexican winning in a NASCAR national series last week at Michigan.
Sam Hornish Jr. will start third in his first race of 2016, giving Joe Gibbs Racing the top three spots on the grid.
Justin Allgaier was fourth, followed by Elliott Sadler, Ben Kennedy and Sprint Cup regular Brad Keselowski.
Kennedy, who topped both practice sessions Friday, will be making his first series start.
Keselowski has won three times in Iowa, including his last two starts in 2013 and 2014.