Release Prepared by: RACE22.com
Photos Courtesy of: RACE22.com

Sevierville, TN(May 25, 2010) -- Everyone knew it was coming ... you could see the writing on the wall, Blake Jones was getting close to breaking through with the young drivers first career stock car win and on Saturday, May 22nd, it happened.

The 13-year old racer was inching closer to winning his first race each week in both the Charger and Late Model Stock Car division, of which he runs both weekly at Lonesome Pine Raceway in Coeburn, VA. On Saturday night on the 3/8 mile track, the young driver was poised to pick up a win and crew chief, Wade Day had given him everything he needed to get there. Jones qualified third for both the Charger division, which is a Limited Late Model division utilizing a crate engine and the Late Model Stock Car division, but up first was the Charger race, where a race earlier he

had come so close to winning his first race.

In the previous start in the Charger car, Jones had led laps late in the race only to fall short of victory lane to the season long dominator and former Late Model Champion, Brad Housewright. After coming close, Jones knew that the Charger race could be his best shot at his first career victory, but the competition is tough in this division with seasoned veterans and rookies alike. With a rookie and a veteran lining up in front of him at the drop of the green flag, Jones had his work cut out for him, but it wasn't long before he discarded of the rookie and put himself up to the second position.

In front of him now and standing in his way of his first career victory was, Housewright, who had stolen the win two weeks ago and who had won every race this season to date. Jones, though a rookie in just his fourth Charger start and seventh overall stock car start wasn't intimidated and quickly began going after the leader. Jones would take the lead, but the battle wouldn't be over as Housewright wasn't going to give up the lead easily, but Jones wasn't going down without a fight either.

After a restart, Jones would resume the lead again and from there he would have to hang on to the lead through a series of caution flags that slowed the race over the 40-lap race. Jones would however hang on and defeat the undefeated, Housewright for his first career victory on the 3/8 mile track. Jones and his team were elated in victory lane to get to there so soon in his young stock car racing career.

"Man, this is awesome," said Jones in victory lane. "This team works so hard every week and we've been so close that I knew we had to win soon. It feels good to be here and it feels good to have beat someone like Brad(Housewright), he's a top notch racer and to beat him is a big deal."

In victory lane Jones and his team joked about him going from being crew chief and former NASCAR Regional Champion, Wade Day's steering wheel holder to be his race car driver, something Jones plays up.

"I guess now I'm Wade's(Day) driver and not just his steering wheel holder," laughed Jones. "That's been an inside joke with us since Wade joined our team over the winter and I'm just glad to change that tonight. Wade's been awesome to work with and we're pretty lucky to have him and I'm glad I made him proud tonight."

Jones' celebration in victory lane was short lived however as the young driver was strapping into his Late Model Stock Car to go racing once again. In this division, he's also been close to winning, finishing second in his second career start over a month ago and not finishing outside the top five to date and his fourth start would be no exception. Jones wouldn't be able to pull off a second win on the night as he rallied to finish third after being spun late in the race and having to work his way back to the front.

Jones' next race will come at Newport Speedway, where he has one previous start finishing third, but this time he'll line-up against the best Late Model Stock Car drivers in the business in the UARA-STARS Series. This will be Jones' first start in the series, but crew chief, Wade Day has plenty of starts in the series including a couple of victories, which will give Jones an edge on other rookie drivers.

"I'm really looking forward to going back to Newport," said Jones. "That's kinda our home track and we had a really good car there last time, so we're hoping for a good run, but we know that the competition in the UARA is going to be tough."

Blake Jones, who drives for his fathers, Teddy Jones Racing is supported by Mountain Dew and Amp Energy Drink as well as Bakers Wrecker Service, Breeden Paving, Chambers Market & Grill and WD Performance. For more information visit Blake's all new website at www.BlakeJonesRacing.com or contact RACE22.com Driver Management at (276) 613-4208.