Erik Jones 2018 season recap

The 2018 season brought Erik Jones his first victory and improvement across the board in his sophomore Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. His average starting position (10.6), average finishing position (14.0), top-five finishes (nine) and top-10 finishes (18) all were improved from 2017 -- and Jones made the NASCAR Playoffs for the first time in the top series.

Erik Jones scored his first top five of the 2018 season with a fourth-place showing in the spring race at Texas Motor Speedway. He led 64 laps, which accounted for nearly two-thirds of his season total of 99.

Erik Jones' first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory came at the World Center of Racing -- in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. He led just one lap in battling former and future teammate Martin Truex Jr. for the win. The victory boosted him into the NASCAR Playoffs. Jones also led 11 laps in the Daytona 500 but wrecked out of the season opener in a nine-car pileup.

Erik Jones caught fire in the summer stretch of races with nine top-eight finishes in 11 races from Sonoma to Indianapolis -- including that Daytona win.

The No. 20 team and Erik Jones had fun with the throwback weekend at Darlington, honoring spotter Rick Carelli with a special paint scheme for the Bojangles Southern 500. Carelli made 145 starts across NASCAR's three national series from 1992 to 2003.

After qualifying for the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs, Erik Jones posed with his fellow postseason competitors at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This was the first time he qualified for the playoffs.

Erik Jones started the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs in prime position: on the pole for the Las Vegas opener of the 10-race title run. It was Jones' only pole of 2018 and the second of his young career. A crash in the Las Vegas race, however, left Jones finishing 40th and in a hole in the playoffs standings.

And it makes for parties -- lots of parties. Here, Erik Jones joins Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. at the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Experience during the NASCAR Playoffs Party at the Fremont Street Experience on September 15, 2018 in Las Vegas.

Jones put up an 11th-place finish at Richmond, the middle race of the Round of 16. But a 30th-place finish the next week in the road course race at Charlotte left Jones below the cutline. He did rebound with three top fives in the final seven races after being eliminated. Jones finished the season 15th in the standings.