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USA Today via Reuters

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USA Today via Reuters

Things got very interesting at the Snowball Derby 300 down in Florida. The eventful 300-lap race at the Five Flags Speedway saw crashes in qualifying and a caution in the very first lap. With 267 of the 300 laps still remaining, Erik Jones got a little too close for comfort to Jackson Boone and gave the young Late Model star a nudge right in the left rear. However, this wasn’t just a tap. The impact was strong enough to leave the front end of Jones’s car looking like it had gone through the wringer. It’s safe to say that his car got a bit of an unplanned makeover!

Terrell Owens holding Dude Wipes XL

An early curtain call for Jackson Boone because of Erik Jones

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Jackson Boone, who is the 2019 Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway Pro Late Model Champion, had to witness his car hauled off by a loader. Though he came out unscathed, his car needed more than a speedy fix. Erik Jones was tailing Boone and tried to make his way from the inside. Unlike on preceding turns, Boone did not give space to Jones’s #4 and got a not-so-friendly shove in return, which sent it spiraling into the outer wall. The result? Boone’s car ended up in a sorry state, effectively putting a full stop to his race.

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Toby Christie summed it up in his tweet: “Erik Jones got into Boone to trigger that crash. #SnowballDerby. And Just like that, Boone’s day on the track came to a grinding halt.

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Just when Stephen Nasse snagged the fourth spot from Hinde, the race hit a bit of a speed bump with a caution flag waving in the air because of that tangle-up involving Jackson Boone’s #7 car. Boone’s day on the track came to a screeching halt on lap 33, thanks to some heavy-duty contact. The guy who once basked in championship glory had his eyes set high for this weekend. But as fate would have it, things took a southward turn.

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Moreover, considering Eric Jones himself had to bow out after a major pile up in the final few laps, he is unlikely to take the blame for ending Boone’s race.

Erik Jones might not get the blame for the recent track kerfuffle

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In real time, it might have looked like the Legacy Motor Club driver was the one who nudged Jackson Boone’s #7 car, but replays show that Jones is not entirely to blame. According to the race callers, if someone were to ask Jones, he would be liable to flat-out deny causing Boone’s race to hit the skids. Boone, on his part, did drop in on him and cramped him for room.

Now, let’s throw it back to last year on this very track. Jackson Boone, despite a promising start where he qualified 5th, only managed to cross the finish line in 16th place. And that wasn’t his only rough patch—he racked up three DNFs (Did Not Finish) last year.

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Read More: Aric Almirola Could Leave Tony Stewart Hanging as Joe Gibbs Courts the Experienced Ace

These bumpy rides happened at the New Smyrna Speedway in Florida and twice at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Tennessee. Despite these setbacks, it’s at the Nashville Fairgrounds where Boone really feels like he’s in his element.

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Neha Dwivedi

1,262 Articles

​​Neha Dwivedi is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports. As a journalist, she religiously believes in the power of research, which allows her readers to dive deep into her stories and experience the detailed nuances of the sport like never before. Being proficient with Core Sport and Live Event Coverage, she has written multiple copies on the top entities of Stock Car Racing, like Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, and Tony Stewart. Even before Neha entered the world of Sports Journalism, she was a writer for the longest time. This helped her master the art of storytelling, which now allows her to connect with not only her readers but also drivers like Thad Moffitt, who have shown appreciation for her work. While she enjoys bringing the BTS scoops of NASCAR to the forefront, her favorite style of coverage has to be where she has the opportunity to explore some of the sports' most talked about topics like penalties, innovation, and safety.

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Nischal Kandpal

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