RELATED: Jones to drive No. 20 car at Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Erik Jones, the current NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points leader, has plenty on his mind as his season comes to a close with Matt Crafton and Tyler Reddick bearing down on him.
So why not throw a little more on the plate for the 19-year-old?
With the news of Matt Kenseth's two-race suspension being upheld after a series of appeals on Thursday at NASCAR's Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, Joe Gibbs Racing tabbed Jones as replacement driver for the 2003 Sprint Cup Series champion's No. 20 Toyota for this weekend's Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, according to a JGR official.
With a full slate of racing ahead of him -- and a championship battle to focus on -- how will the the driver handle a NASCAR triple-header?
"Obviously the Truck and the XFINITY car are my main focus," the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver said Thursday at Texas Motor Speedway, ahead of a pair of NCWTS practice sessions. "That's what I know I'm doing, coming into this weekend. … Obviously I'm going to do the best that I can for them, just to keep them in contention and hopefully have a good race for them.
"… Obviously we'll go into the Truck race here this weekend and try to fire off and get ourselves back and where we need to be in that series."
Jones has already filled in for a pair of other JGR drivers earlier this year in Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch for his first taste of Cup action.
After a lengthy rain delay at Bristol locked up Hamlin's aching neck, Jones jumped in the No. 11. When Busch was sidelined with leg injuries earlier this season, Jones piloted the No. 18 at Kansas.
The results were 26th at Bristol and 40th at Kansas, after a wreck, but many came away impressed with the poise the Michigander showed behind the wheel, especially on short notice.
Regardless, now that Joe Gibbs came calling this weekend, he'll be ready.
"Bristol was, I think, a tough situation for everybody, never being in a Cup car all together," said Jones, who mentioned he hadn't yet spoken to No. 20 crew chief Jason Ratcliff. "I was really comfortable at Kansas; I was pretty happy with the way things were going up to the point that I lost it.
"Running up in the top 10 there and being competitive and being in contention definitely gave me a lot of confidence for the next opportunity I get, whether it be this weekend or whether it be in a year or two years, whatever it may be. I definitely feel confident in myself to be able to go out and do a good job."