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Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones have a need for speed: close to 700 mph

blaney-jones-tbirds

“Flying around Daytona” took on a whole new meaning Tuesday for a pair of NASCAR’s young guns -- or in this case, top guns: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney.

The two drivers went for as Jones called it “the flight of my life” with the Air Force Thunderbirds, flying over Daytona International Speedway and the surrounding area.

They both definitely satisfied their need for speed, for sure: While they’ll drive in Sunday’s Daytona 500 at speeds approaching 200 mph, Blaney and Jones were slated to hit speeds approaching 700 mph in-flight.

Jones reportedly had wanted to fly with the Thunderbirds for his whole life, in a sense channeling one of his favorite movies -- the Tom Cruise epic “Top Gun” -- which was released 10 years before Jones, 20, was even born.

Bubba Wallace told NASCAR Talk last week that he’s slated to go up into the wild blue yonder with the Thunderbirds as well on Wednesday.

Here’s a number of social media posts from Jones, Furniture Row Racing, Daytona International Speedway and Team Penske on the drivers’ exploits:

Follow @JerryBonkowski