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ERIK JONES

Birth Date: May 30, 1996 Hometown: Byron, MI
Team: No. 20 Toyota Camry / Joe Gibbs Racing

On a night of chaos and crashes last July at the Daytona International
Speedway, Erik Jones became the 190th different driver to win a race
2018 featured drivers Although you have to scroll toward the bottom of the list to find his
in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series history.

name, what’s important to the 22-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver is
the fact he’s finally on the list.

Success in the NASCAR GANDER OUTDOOR Truck and Xfinity Series
looked so easy, it was natural to expect him to win races and contend
for a championship at the highest level – even if he had the pressure of
following popular veteran Matt Kenseth in the No. 20 Toyota.
Jones won seven times in 42 truck series starts and nine times in 77
Xfinity races. He also is the only driver to win rookie of the year awards
for all three circuits.

He came to NASCAR before he finished high school. He was 17 when
he started his first race in 2013. In fact, he received his high school
diploma as part of the NASCAR GANDER OUTDOOR Truck Series
pre-race ceremonies a year later at the Texas Motor Speedway. FOLLOW ONLINE
No matter how quickly he adjusted to GANDER trucks and Xfinity cars,
the Cup series took a little longer to figure out. @ERIK_JONES erik_jones
“You feel the pressure [in replacing Kenseth], and coming into the year
taking over and working with almost the same group that was with Matt erikjonesracing.com @erikjonesracing
last year, you feel that,” Jones said.

“You want to go out and perform and run really well and I definitely feel
like this race, this win, has lifted a lot of weight off my shoulders.” he wasn’t hesitant to put him behind the wheel in 2016 when he
was only 20.
Jones dug himself a deep hole in the first two months with finishes of
36 at Daytona, 26 at Bristol and 39th at Talladega. “I think drivers are like quarterbacks; I say if you don’t like pressure,
you need to get out of your profession, because it just comes with
The victory at Daytona, which included 10 cautions, two overtimes and it,” Gibbs said. “I think there’s always pressure, particularly in this
crashes that left more than half the field in the garage area at the finish, sport because, what, you’re the guy with the wheel. It’s a huge deal.
seemed to turn things around. Only one of his top-five finishes came We know in our sport right now there’s a huge amount of young
ahead of the Daytona victory – the 18th race of the season – and the talent, which is really great, I think, for our fans. We’ve got a lot of
other eight came afterward. good -- very, very good young drivers coming up.”

The victory led to his first appearance in the NASCAR Playoffs. He That still doesn’t make it any easier for Jones.
missed the first round cut and finished 15th in points.
“Coach [Joe Gibbs] has been very committed to me and very
And yet, there was enough progress to believe he’s closer to being one supportive of everything that we’ve done this year, and over the last
of the championship contenders. few years that I’ve been with Joe Gibbs Racing [Jones also drove
for JGR in the Xfinity series].
“We accomplished a lot of our goals, things that we wanted to get better
and things that we wanted to work on,” Jones said. “We still have some “But you still feel that pressure. You still want to win. And myself as
minor stuff that we want to continue to improve, but for the most part it a competitor, regardless of who I’m replacing or where I’m driving,
was a good season.” you want to win races, and you want to be a winner.”

Gibbs, a Pro Football Hall of Fame coach, believes his young driver Which forever puts your name on NASCAR’s all-time list of Cup
thrived on the pressure of following in Kenseth’s tire tracks. That’s why series winners.

84 THE OFFICIAL NASCAR 2019 PREVIEW & PRESS GUIDE