The village of Byron, Michigan, sits approximately 70 miles north of Michigan International Speedway. Every day during the race weekends in the Irish Hills, Byron native Erik Jones makes the trek to and from his childhood home and the race track.
His mom makes him home-cooked meals, he see his buddies at old stomping grounds and he even sleeps in the same bed that he grew up sleeping in.
“When you can go and stay somewhere that’s comfortable to you and somewhere you know, it definitely is a good feeling and a good break from kind of the normal routine,” Jones told NASCAR.com Wednesday. “… Just helps me clear my head and it’s a nice drive — it’s about 45 minutes and all back roads, nice country …
“It just gives me a little bit of time to think and ponder on the day, whether it be after practice or qualifying and especially on race day morning. It gives me time to really process what the day’s going to be all about and how I need to prepare for it. Sometimes I’ll have a buddy come with me and ride with me, sometimes I’ll go by myself. But it’s nice just to reflect and chill out and kind of have a minute away from the whole hustle and bustle of the race track.”
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The town of Byron is small: Less than 600 people call the village home and the town’s website refers to it as “off the beaten path” — but it also invites visitors to stop in when they’re on the road. Jones is proud to call himself a Michigan native and enjoys returning to his home state — he’s spent several days in the Great Lakes State ahead of race weekend and will spend next week there as well when the series is off.
His roots in Byron are special to him, as is the support the 22-year-old driver has received from the community.
“Not even just from being in Cup but even back in Trucks and Xfinity, there (were) a lot of people that would come out, give me support, cheer me on and get to come out to the race track when we come to Michigan,” he said. “So, it’s really cool to see the support that I get from Byron. … You don’t always have a ton of things to do in a small town, so it’s cool to be the guy that gives people something to root for and cheer for. I really take pride in being from a small town and being able to carry that flag, carry that banner for them.
“I actually have a lot more people that come up and introduce themselves and recognize me up here actually than North Carolina. It’s always fun to meet fans and people who support racing and support my racing up here.”
Jones will have the opportunity to carry a different type of flag — a checkered one — for his town this weekend, as the series heads to Michigan International Raceway for the first of two 2018 races at the Irish Hills track (FireKeepers Casino 400, 2 p.m. ET Sunday, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). During his rookie season in 2017, Jones finished 13th (after a loose wheel set the team back in the field) and, most recently, third at his home track.
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Still searching for his first win in NASCAR’s premier series, a victory at his home track on Sunday would be perfectly scripted — and he would have “a pretty big party” in Victory Lane.
“It’d be really special to me,” he said. “Michigan’s a place that I went to growing up a few times. Not only that but just a win. I’m pretty proud of being from Michigan and really still love my home state. It’d be neat for me because there’s a lot of people coming down — I think we’ve got 60 or 70 people that are coming out to watch the race and they’ll be in the infield so it would be really neat to have them all in Victory Lane with me and be able to celebrate that first win.
“It’s something I really can’t imagine. It’s hard to think about that and process that moment and I’m sure if it did happen, I’d be probably out of words for it. It’s definitely something that I’ve thought about — I think every driver thinks about their first win and how they’d want it to go and if I could script it perfect, I think Michigan would be the place I’d love to do it at.”