Q: The last time you found victory lane at Eldora Speedway was during the USAC 4-Crown event in 2005. How confident are you heading into this year’s event and what does it take to win at the legendary half-mile?
Levi Jones: “Eldora has always been one of my favorite places to race. With this weekend being Chevy Weekend, it would make winning even more fun because we’ll have some of our sponsors in for the event. It would be pretty cool to put a Chevy in the winner’s circle once, twice or maybe even three times in one night. Our team has been working really hard to get ready for this event and I know that Tracy (Hines, teammate) and I are going to have great cars for all three races.”
“The key to winning at Eldora is pretty cut-and-dry. You have to qualify well and put yourself in a starting position that can help you move forward as quickly as possible once the green flag drops. But patience, especially in a longer race like the Silver Crown race, is also a key to winning at Eldora. You have to make sure you save your tires and are running near the front in order to have an opportunity to move forward at the end of the race. Leading laps is important, but leading the last lap is what counts the most.”
Q: With the USAC 4-Crown Nationals being condensed into one day, does that make it difficult to transition between the different types of cars that you’ll compete in on Saturday?
Levi Jones: “It’s really more important to pay attention to the race track over the course of the day. Starting practice and qualifying so early in the afternoon takes a lot of moisture out of the track. We’ll really have to stay on top of the track conditions to make sure we adjust as we need to. The track will be much different in qualifying than it will be during the time of night we run the feature. It’s also very important as a driver to make sure that I give as much feedback to Rob (Hart, crew chief) and the guys as possible. What I tell them from heat race to heat race, feature to feature, will help us make sure we’ve made the right changes to the car as the night progresses.”
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