18-year-old will make first official Sprint Cup start on Saturday
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Erik Jones will make his first official start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series here this weekend, filling in for the injured Kyle Busch in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota.
Beyond this weekend’s race, however, his status as a Sprint Cup driver is less certain.
The organization, which fields four full-time Sprint Cup teams, hasn’t indicated when Busch will return from injuries sustained in the season-opening NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Jones, who competes part time for JGR in the XFINITY Series and full time for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, said Friday at Kansas Speedway the focus is on this weekend’s race and nothing more.
“Honestly, we haven’t really thought much past this weekend,” Jones said. “We’re all hoping Kyle can come back; I know he’s ready to come back.
“Right now, it’s just Kansas and going out and seeing what we can do this weekend.”
Saturday night’s SpongeBob SquarePants 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM) will be Jones’ second Sprint Cup race. The 18-year-old stepped into the No. 11 of JGR driver Denny Hamlin in relief last month at Bristol Motor Speedway, finishing 26th.
“That was a tough situation to be put in, and I felt like if we could have started farther up front … that we could have possibly finished a little better than we did,” he said. “I felt pretty comfortable in the car by the end of the day, which was nice especially at Bristol — that’s a place that I’ve never really feel 100 percent like I’ve got that place figured out.”
That comfort makes this weekend’s start a little less stressful. In addition to his Sprint Cup duties, he’s also competing in Friday night’s Toyota Tundra 250 (8:30 p.m. ET) Truck Series event.
“I feel really good about it honestly,” he said. “Bristol was kind of a big test session for me, letting me get laps and knock some of that new-car, new-team rust off and get a good feel for it.”
Jones is the third driver to fill in for Busch during his recovery. Fellow Toyota driver Matt Crafton, a two-time NCWTS champion, drove the No. 18 in the season-opening Daytona 500 while David Ragan, formerly with Front Row Motorsports, has been the driver of record for the team in the previous nine races.
Jones, third in points in the Truck Series, scored his first XFINITY Series win last month at Texas Motor Speedway.