Erik Jones makes a visit to Auburn, exchanges helmets with Gus Malzahn

Kathy Sheldon

9 years ago

Gus Malzahn and Erik Jones swap helmets.

Give 'em your best War Eagle, Erik Jones. The 21-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver paid a visit to what folks around town call "The Loveliest Village in the Plains" -- or more commonly known as Auburn, Alabama. Jones met up with Auburn's head football coach Gus Malzahn to do a helmet swap. Thankfully, Malzahn didn't drop the custom gift. On Friday, Talladega Superspeedway announced that Malzahn will be the Grand Marshal for April 29th's GEICO 500 race. He was the honorary pace car driver in 2014.

.@JoeGibbsRacing helmet ↕️@AuburnFootball helmet
“I like this!” - @CoachGusMalzahn @erik_jones | #WarEagle pic.twitter.com/LIb0EadXZ5 — Talladega Superspeedway (@TalladegaSuperS) April 5, 2018

Coach loves going fast! #WarEagle https://t.co/qSMZae7Jml
— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) April 5, 2018

The Michigan fan even had a special tour guide: former Auburn football captain and SEC Network's Cole Cubelic. Jones may know a thing or two about going fast.

“He can be our tempo coordinator”
- @CoachGusMalzahn on @NASCAR driver @erik_jones pic.twitter.com/gFQYNXyjnf — Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) April 6, 2018

He also made took a tour of the '334' and made a pit stop to try the most famous lemonade in the SEC at Toomer's Lemonade.

The famous Toomer’s lemonade!@erik_jones | #WarEagle pic.twitter.com/1PZcQSxPOG
— Talladega Superspeedway (@TalladegaSuperS) April 5, 2018

Can’t go to @AuburnU without visiting Toomer’s Corner! @erik_jones | #WarEagle pic.twitter.com/MNfO0Ku3XK
— Talladega Superspeedway (@TalladegaSuperS) April 5, 2018

Not a bad way to get back into the swing of things after an off weekend.