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Erik Jones recalls exactly how he felt when he saw Kyle Larson hoist his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series trophy in the air at Michigan International Speedway in 2016.
Jealous, he said.
“I was like, ‘Man that would be really cool,'” Jones, a native of Byron, Michigan, told NASCAR.com on Tuesday. “With as many people that are coming out to the race and they’re going to be watching in the stands and in the pits. And then to be able to go back that night and just see my family and hang out with them and celebrate the win with family and friends would be even more special.”
The 21-year-old driver is spending the week leading up to Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN) at the house he grew up in following his 10th-place run at Watkins Glen International. Every year he has family and friends come out to the Irish Hills track to watch him in what is likely the only race they’ll make it to that season.
To earn his first premier series win there would be “really special,” he said.
“I’ve always been pretty proud to be from Michigan and always kind of hold that high … It’s definitely the storybook first win that you try to write up in your head and it would definitely be cool to see it play out.”
That “storybook” win could happen this weekend, as the Rookie of the Year contender is still searching for his first victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. He has already seen some success in his freshman campaign, nabbing six top-10s in the last 11 races. He finished 13th at the Irish Hills track in June.
A willingness to gamble also bodes well for his odds; Jones currently sits 20th in the playoff standings, 160 points from the final spot, with four races remaining until the 16-car playoffs begins. As the points play out, he essentially needs to win to make a run for the championship.
“We’re not racing for top-10s anymore – we’re racing to just to try to snag a win,” Jones said. “That’s the only thing that really means anything to us at this point in the season … That was a big goal to make the playoffs, so we’re trying to get in position.”
This weekend will also present an extra challenge for the No. 77 Furniture Row Racing driver, as it marks his second week without his crew chief Chris Gayle, who is serving a two-race suspension for an L1 penalty earned at Pocono Raceway on July 30.
RELATED: No. 77 team receives L1 penalty
“It’s very different,” Jones acknowledged. “I’ve worked with Chis all year now and we have a pretty good relationship and our communication has really been getting good in the past couple months. I think Chris is really understanding what I need out of the race car when I say what it’s doing and (can) really interpret how I’m coming across and what I’m trying to say. When you lose that and you kind of have to start over with another crew chief, it just reverses that whole process and you have to start over again. That makes it a little tough …
“Michigan will definitely be, I think, a bigger challenge for us.”
This isn’t the first time Jones has been tested in his career; just over four years ago, he made his first NASCAR start in the Camping World Truck Series. In 2014, he ran his first XFINITY race — and then won the Truck Series championship and made his first premier series race the very next season. In four years, he’s earned an eyebrow-raising 15 wins across the Camping World Truck and XFINITY Series.
His rise through the racing ranks has been fast, especially as he prepares to step into the storied No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing ride next season, a car piloted by Tony Stewart, Joey Logano and most recently, Matt Kenseth.
“I’m really happy with it right now,” Jones said on his budding career. “It couldn’t be much better as a young driver coming in and obviously I’m in really good equipment this year with Furniture Row and the 77 and I’ll be in really good equipment next year with the 20 car. So, I’m excited – I’m looking really forward to getting back to Joe Gibbs Racing – obviously I ran for them in XFINITY for a long time and made my first Cup start for them as well. Just cool to be going back there and back to the mothership.”
Jones is one of several young stars making a splash in the premier series pool this season. With 25-year-old Larson contending for wins weekend after weekend, 23-year-old Ryan Blaney moving into a third Team Penske car next season and William Byron, 19, taking over the No. 5 Chevrolet in 2018, the youth movement is alive and well in NASCAR.
Jones is happy to carry the load, as the sport welcomes a new wave of talented drivers.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Jones said “I think that age is coming down in NASCAR; I think you’re going to see guys retiring sooner and sooner. So you have a lot of young guys in the pipeline that are ready to move up. … We’re looking for opportunities and I think the sponsors are more attracted to a young guy coming in and want to be the face of a guy coming in that’s trying to make a name for himself. It’s just neat to see, it’s really cool to be a part of it.
“Obviously we want NASCAR to be healthy and stay around for a long time and part of that is our job,” he added. “We have to be out there and give people a reason to want to support us … (Fans) want to know a little bit more about who we are, what we do and why should somebody like me over Chase Elliott. We all are trying to figure out how to do that. It’s so different than it was 10 or 15 years ago for guys with social media and everything, the way that fans consume the sport, I think, is a total 180 from what it used to be.”