Garrett Jones paced final practice for the Rattler 250 on Friday with a best lap of 15.037 seconds around South Alabama Speedway in Kinston, Alabama.
The 17-year-old was noticeably absent from the World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway after attending the past several seasons. But his familiar blue and yellow No. 88 was at the track early on Friday and appears to have something to work with for the remainder of the weekend.
“We unloaded pretty sporty,” Jones told Short Track Scene over the phone on Friday night. “We’ve been making really good progress since we unloaded. We made it better than where we started and that’s all you can ask for. We mocked up and feel good about the weekend as a whole after that.”
READ MORE: Complete Rattler 250 Coverage
As for Saturday qualifying, Jones would like the pole, and feels like a contenders but says he isn’t putting too much stock into time trials.
“We were in the teens and 0s and spent more time focused on our race trim,” Jones said. “We’d like the pole and we’re going to give it our best shot but we can win from anywhere if you stay out of trouble. But we do feel like we have the speed for it tomorrow. But we’re really hoping to get more long run speed out of it for Sunday.”
The rest of the top-5 seems like a sure bet of likely contenders as reigning Snowball Derby champion Christian Eckes was second quick over defending race winner Ty Majeski, Harrison Burton and Casey Roderick.
The complete results from practice can be viewed below.
- Garrett Jones 15.037
- Christian Eckes 15.163
- Ty Majeski 15.166
- Harrison Burton 15.170
- Casey Roderick 15.217
- Kyle Plott 15.222
- Raphael Lessard 15.281
- Jeff Choquette 15.293
- Chris Davidson 15.318
- Chase Purdy 15.321
- Donnie Wilson 15.323
- Jerry Artuso 15.387
- Cory Roper 15.389
- Augie Grill 15.410
- Paul Shafer Jr. 15.437
- John Van Dourn 15.437
- Steven Wallace 15.444
- Steve Dorer 15.492
- Cole Anderson 15.529
- Derek Scott Jr. 15.590
- Stephen Nasse 15.598
- Paul Kelley 15.600
- Connor Okrezsik 15.619
- Chandler Smith 15.640
- Kyle Bryant 15.726
- Brandon McReynolds 15.813
Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.