18-year-old making first premier series start at Kansas on Saturday night
RELATED: Jones to make first Cup start at Kansas
Erik Jones sat on the stage in the Talladega Superspeedway Media Center last Friday morning looking every bit his 18-year age — boyish and wide-eyed — but at the same time, polished and confident.
He smiled and conceded, this wasn’t the way he ever expected to walk into the racing spotlight. But he is not only looking forward to his first true NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start Saturday night at Kansas Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1) filling in for the injured Kyle Busch, Jones has set high expectations.
And he has every reason to.
A win (at Texas), three poles and five top-fives in nine XFINITY Series starts plus two top-three finishes in three Camping World Truck Series races this season have proven this prodigy is as good as promised. He says all the right things about tempered expectations but truly, he expects a lot out of himself — as do a lot of others.
“For me, it’s really all seat time and experience,” Jones said over the weekend. “I think keeping our expectations realistic is a pretty big thing for us. If we can go run top-15, I’d feel like that would be a pretty big win for us. It’s a big step.
“We’ve talked a lot about it. I’ve talked with Adam Stevens (No. 18 crew chief) a lot about it and kind of what the jump is and talked to Kyle (Busch) about it. It’s not going to be an easy step for anybody, but I really believe we can go run top-15 and if we can do that, I think that would be a good day.”
Jones is on an accelerated learning curve. Instead of easing into NASCAR’s marquee Cup ranks, he made his debut last month at Bristol — a literal last-minute fill-in for another Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin who suffered neck spasms during the early laps of the race and called for a relief driver during an extended red flag period for rain.
As the story goes, Jones arrived at the track with less than 10 minutes before the race re-started and brought Hamlin’s car home safely in 26th place.
Now Jones has been tabbed to drive Busch’s No. 18 Toyota after the car’s previous substitute David Regan vacated the seat to instead substitute for Brian Vickers at Michael Waltrip Racing.
“It seems like the last three years of my life have been a lot of right place opportunities starting with Kyle (Busch) and the Snowball (Derby) and from there on,” Jones said. “It was really a shame to see Kyle get hurt at Daytona — I consider Kyle to be a friend of mine and it’s never fun to see something like that. Definitely not the circumstances I wish I could have done it in, but I’m excited for the opportunity no matter what else happens.
“It’s a cool thing for me to be able to make a Cup start at this point in my career. If you would have asked me two years ago if I would be making a Cup start when I was 18 – no, I really don’t think I would have. It’s an awesome opportunity that I never would have dreamed of to get to do at such a young age and definitely going to take it in stride and see what we can do.”
Jones said he was grateful to at least get that first Cup race under his belt. The experience will be helpful on many levels.
“Anytime you get into a new car in a new series, it’s kind of nerve wracking starting your first race,” Jones said. “Its nerve-wracking starting any race, but especially your first one. That did take away some of the I guess unsureness of what’s really different about the Cup Series and I definitely think that knocked some of that stuff out of the way, which is nice.
“I don’t know if it will take away all the pre-race jitters by any means – it will still be nerve wracking starting your first official Cup race any time — but definitely took some things away for me that when I get in the car at Kansas for practice, I’ll feel more comfortable with what I have and what the car’s going to do and know a little bit better some of the differences in the car and what I need to prepare for.”
The comparisons between the young Jones and another former 18-year old JGR prodigy, Joey Logano came immediately and have been constant. Fair or not.
“They’re there and I guess I’ve heard them along the way,” Jones said of the comparisons. “I try to just kind of separate the situations and it’s just a lot different situation all together. I’m stepping in as a fill-in role and I’m running one race right now at Kansas, which is entirely different from Joey’s (Logano) role of stepping in and trying to fill a full season.
“I feel pretty comfortable with that. I feel like there’s a point where you have to make the jump at some point in your career. Whether it’s now or a year down the road or two years down the road, I’d have to do it. I feel like this is probably the best situation I could be in to make that jump in a part-time situation like it is.
“It’s a great opportunity and it’s a great car – it’s a top-flight car so obviously there are expectations to run well. As long as I can keep my mentality that I’m just here to learn and make laps then I feel like it’s not going to hurt my development in any sort of way.”