Jones gains knowledge in whirlwind Cup experience

A short, 35-minute flight to Bristol Motor Speedway later, the 18-year-old driver with a total of just 30 NASCAR national series starts to his name found himself sitting behind the wheel of the No. 11 Toyota Camry – Denny Hamlin‘s Sprint Cup Series ride.

Over the course of multiple rain delays of Sunday’s Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes and Stand Up to Cancer, the 25-time winner’s neck locked up on him. Hamlin, unable to drive at 100 percent of his capabilities, knew of a backup plan — call the kid.

“I got a text from one of the crewmembers and they let me know that I might need to be on standby,” said Jones, who’d had no Cup seat time before Sunday. “Right then, I started packing a bag. I called my dad and said, ‘Hey, I think I might be getting to run a Cup race tonight.’ He was like, ‘Okay, cool keep me updated.’ Took off right from there and flew here and helicoptered in and got in and drove.”

Here’s a brief timeline of Jones’ Sunday (times ET):

2:39 p.m. Race halted under red flag
4:30 p.m. Jones receives text message from Joe Gibbs Racing
5:40 p.m. Departs Concord
6:14 p.m. Arrives in Bristol after 35-minute flight
6:15 p.m. Helicopters to speedway
6:20 p.m. Arrives at track, gets Sprint Cup license, meets crew chief Dave Rogers
6:30 p.m. Strapped into car; Given advice from Hamlin
6:38 p.m. Race restarts
6:50 p.m. Green flag waves

Keep in mind this is a driver that received his high school diploma during driver intros at Texas Motor Speedway just last year. “Nerve-wracking” shouldn’t even begin to cover what Jones would be feeling over the next few hours.

Truth be told, he didn’t have any time for it.

“A 35-minute flight up and I guess that was the only time I really had to really reflect on what I was about to do,” said Jones, who also finished fourth in Saturday’s XFINITY Series race. “There were a few moments where I didn’t feel nervous, but my stomach felt nervous. I didn’t have a lot of time really to even think about it.”

So, how’d he do and what’d he learn?

Jones finished 26th and off the pace, which isn’t so bad considering he jumped in the car mid-race, battled a steering wheel that didn’t fit his preferences and it all happened at one of the toughest tracks on the circuit. Plus, while the official record shows that 26th-place finish in Hamlin’s name, Jones will be able to tell his grandkids that he finished higher than Sprint Cup Series champions Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick and Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano in his first race.

Jones mentioned that it did take him about three-quarters of the race to figure out what the car was capable of and how to handle it, along with how different it was from the XFINITY cars that he’s used to.

“I learned a ton. I wish we could start the night over and do it all again,” he said. “It was an interesting situation for sure. I never turned a lap in one of these cars until the green flag dropped. It was interesting and I learned a ton. I can’t wait to try it again.

“I wish we could have stayed on the lead lap or a lap down or two laps down and picked up a few more spots. We got caught up in the middle of three and four there in the back of the 17 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) and that kind of hurt us getting stuck in the pits. Before that, I was learning a ton and I was pretty happy with it up to that point.”

With four national series wins to his credit already, Jones had been turning heads well before Sunday. Given how he handled himself at the 0.533-mile short track on short notice and – he never got that nap, remember – on short sleep, Jones did nothing but convert a few more believers in his immense talent.

Coach Joe Gibbs was already a believer, but he saw a little extra something.

“To see somebody that young get thrown into that situation; he handled it very good, smooth, on the radio he was really good, and I think it was a real experience for him,” Gibbs said during Matt Kenseth‘s victory press conference. “But I thought he handled all of that exceptionally well. You know, we know Erik I think has a very bright future. I think it’s going to be fun to work with him in the future.”

With Hamlin likely back in the No. 11 at Richmond for Saturday’s Toyota Owners 400 (7 p.m. ET, FOX) was Gibbs impressed enough to insert Jones in his other open ride – the No. 18 Toyota normally inhabited by the injured Kyle Busch?

In seven races manning “Rowdy’s” Camry, David Ragan has but a single top-10 (Martinsville, fifth), so it’s easy to think he may want to hand the metaphoric keys over to Jones in hopes it’ll progress his promising career a bit sooner.

“I don’t know (if I’ll get to race the No. 18 this season). Obviously this was far from planned, but if I do great and I would love the opportunity to get a full weekend of practice and really dial the car in for myself and be comfortable overall. I’d love to try it and I really think we could run top-15, top-10 and obviously a place like Bristol makes it tougher anyway.

“If I do, great,” Jones said. “But I have a ton of races already in the XFINITY and Trucks, so we’ll have to see where it goes.”

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