Truck Series title contender to make first Cup start next weekend
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Joe Gibbs Racing officials announced that 18-year-old Erik Jones will step into the team’s No. 18 Toyota for the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, beginning with the upcoming SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway (Saturday, May 9, 7:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM).
“I’m pretty excited and grateful for the opportunity to drive the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry in the Sprint Cup Series and make my debut for Joe Gibbs Racing,” Jones said in a release provided by the team. Jones was also a guest on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “This is a really good opportunity for me. We are going to try to manage our expectations and if we can go out and get a top-15 run and gain some experience, that would be a great day for us. I’m also excited about representing M&M’s, a great longtime partner at JGR and such a well-known brand. I am looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the M&M’s Toyota at Kansas.”
For the Kansas race, Jones will run a special paint scheme highlighting M&M’s support of Red Nose Day.
Kyle Busch, the team’s primary driver, has been sidelined since suffering a broken right leg and left foot in the season-opening XFINITY Series race in February at Daytona International Speedway.
Jones is currently competing full-time in the Camping World Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports, and has started the first eight XFINITY Series events for JGR in two separate entries (and is slated to run a ninth this weekend at Talladega). Originally scheduled to run 10 NXS races for the organization in the No. 20 Toyota, Jones was pressed into duty in the No. 54 entry for select events due to Busch’s injuries.
Two-time defending Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton drove for the No. 18 team in the season-opening Daytona 500. Sprint Cup driver David Ragan has driven for the team in the past eight races, posting a top finish of fifth at Martinsville Speedway. Ragan will be in the car at Talladega this weekend for the GEICO 500 (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX).
On Tuesday, it was announced that Ragan would move to the No. 55 Toyota of Michael Waltrip Racing for the remainder of the year, beginning with the Kansas race. That team also had its primary driver, Brian Vickers, sidelined earlier this year due to medical issues.
Jones, a native of Byron, Michigan, has no official starts in the Sprint Cup Series, although he was pressed into service earlier this month at Bristol Motor Speedway. He relieved JGR driver Denny Hamlin early in the Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes and Stand Up to Cancer after Hamlin began suffering neck and back spasms and finished 26th.
In eight NXS starts this season, Jones has one win (Texas), five top-five and five top-10 finishes. He won three straight poles at Auto Club Speedway, Texas and Bristol.
He has two top-five finishes in three starts this year in the NCWTS, and is third in that series’ points standings.