From Eldora Speedway
ROSSBURG, OH (March 8) – If you were to go by trends, this would not be Levi Jones’ year to capture the USAC (United States Auto Club) National Sprint Championship; however, the popular Olney, IL veteran is anxious to get the Midwestern USAC swing underway at Eldora Speedway in the Coca-Cola Sprint Classic over Easter weekend (April 2 & 3) to prove that theory wrong.
Jones, the defending USAC National Sprint champion, will be gunning for his fourth such title, which would put him in elite company with Steve Butler as the only four-time National Sprint champion. Jones’ 2009 title came after similar triumphs in the odd-numbered years of 2007 and 2005, to develop somewhat of a reoccurring movement.
Although he has one National win under his belt already this year, at USA Raceway on February 21, Jones ranks third in the cumulative points chase. Damion Gardner has been on a roll, with four wins (East Bay Raceway twice, Las Vegas Speedway and Perris Speedway) to lead the standings, while Jerry Coons, Jr. has been using consistent finishes (four top ten) to hold down second place.
Asked if the possibility of a fourth National championship put any pressure on him, Jones replied, “I don’t look at it as pressure. Feeling pressure from the outside isn’t really anything that I have struggled with, no matter what I was involved in, for most of my life. I try to keep it that way, do what we’ve done for the past few years and see how it ends up”.
“It will be nice to get back to the Midwest. We had some races in Florida and out West to start the year, but one of the things we talked about as a team was that I really want to get back into victory lane at Eldora. The track means a lot to us and we want to be at our best there this year.”
Winning at Eldora would have double importance to Jones, as both his team and the facility are owned by two-time NASCAR Cup champion Tony Stewart.
Yet, Eldora Speedway has not been the most successful venue to Jones, as his record only shows one USAC National Sprint win on the venerable one-half mile clay oval, with that coming in September of 2005, on the way to his initial championship.
With that thought in mind, Jones stated “I think we’ve made some changes to our car, which we feel like will make us better there. We were able to qualify decent at Eldora last year and then backed that up by running up front early in the races. We’ve made it a point to be better this year at the end of the races and hopefully that plays out to our advantage at Eldora this year. We’ll find out in early April”.
While the USAC Sprints will compete in full National point events each night, the UMP (United Midwestern Promoters) Modifieds will join the doubleheader on Friday night (April 2) and the Stock Cars will be the support division on Saturday (April 3).