At 18 years of age, Erik Jones has 18 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts and has won four of them and four XFINITY Series starts. That’s 22 starts in all and 17 top-10 finishes.
While that may not sound like all that many rushes to meet the green flag, the stone cold truth of the matter is that the kid from Byron, Michigan very well may be the hottest property in all of NASCAR right now.
Pulled out of the Midwest by Kyle Busch to run his KBM Truck, Jones’ sharp focus for 2015 was to make a run at both the Truck Series championship and Sunoco Rookie of the Year award. Then came the now well documented crash at Daytona last Saturday, and with it, a raft of immediate change for Kyle Busch and protégé Jones.
Jones will not only line up for this weekend’s Truck race, but the second race of the ’15 XFINITY Series as well. Yes, he will have a lot on his plate way down in Georgia in the town firmly affixed on the NASCAR map by NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees Raymond Parks and Red Byron, and he’s absolutely fine with that.
Q: What did you do to pass the time on the long car ride from Charlotte to Atlanta?
A: Me, I usually just browse at my phone most of the time.
Q: Do you listen to any music? Are you into that kind of thing?
A: Yeah, yeah, I am. Generally, I’ll listen to some Eminem, some Kid Rock. I’ll listen to a little bit of country on the side. I listen to all kinds of stuff.
Q: You’re lined up to do both the Camping World Truck and XFINITY races this weekend. To that end, there’s a lot going on for you. Do you look forward to a weekend like this?
A: I like it. It keeps me focused, and it keeps me busy throughout the whole weekend. Really, it gives me more track time overall so I really look forward to these kinds of weekends where I get to just be in a race car for more than the usual amount of time.
Q: You sound like Kyle Busch, who once said to me, "I like to do all the races. Why go to a race some weekend and sit around at the track when they are other races you can run?"
A: Absolutely! Why sit around when you can be in something else?
Q: A lot has been made in the media this past week that you’ve never raced at Atlanta before. Then again, you won in the Truck at Las Vegas last year. If I have it right, both Atlanta and Las Vegas are high-speed 1.5-mile intermediate ovals. Similar in your mind?
A: Yeah, I’d say they’re pretty close. Obviously every track is a little bit different. At the same time, they’re both a mile and a half, and they both have kind of the same characteristics. So hopefully we’ll be able take some of those things over to that side and go out and try to win one down in Atlanta. I’m looking forward to it. It’s always been a place I’ve loved to watch races on TV.
Q: Downshifting to Daytona last weekend. You were second in the Camping World Truck race and seemingly pretty pleased with that. However, it sounded like really wanted the win that one. Thoughts?
A: Yeah, yeah, we really wish we could have won it. Obviously you want to win Daytona and to be that close is always hard. It’s a good way to start the season, but at the same time, it’s a lot of fun to win races. We were happy with it, but we definitely want to try and get one at Atlanta and get our feet kind of springboarded in that direction.
Q: You placed 18th in the XFINITY race, but as we all know, you were right up there at the very end. If not for the misfortune you suffered with eight laps remaining, you very well may have had a shot at that win, huh?
A: Yeah, we were right up there, and we definitely had a shot at it. At that point, I thought maybe we were going to have a shot to try and win it, but unfortunately with superspeedway racing, things don’t always work out in your favor. The cards just weren’t on our table that day, but we definitely put ourselves in a pretty good position and it was definitely a run I was proud of up to that point.
Q: With the Truck Series being your primary focus this year, you certainly have some formidable competition to face as far as the championship and Sunoco Rookie of the Year accolades are concerned, don’t you?
A; There are a lot of guys in it this year. Matt Crafton, who has won the championship the past two years, is going to be tough to beat. Johnny Sauter will be there. Our teammate, Justin Boston, is running for the championship and rookie of the year. Tyler Reddick won the race at Daytona. He’s running for the championship. So there are a lot of guys out there that we’re going to have to compete for not only rookie of the year, but the championship, as well.
Q: As far as switching back and forth between the XFINITY car and the Camping World Truck, will it take much to adjust or will it be pretty easy for you?
A: There is a slight difference between the two. Between the two, they’re more similar than a Cup car. Going back and forth between them really isn’t too much of an issue for me. I did it at Phoenix (last year, where Jones won the Truck race and placed sixth in XFINITY race), and we were able to go back and forth pretty seamlessly. They’re different, but at the same time, they’re a lot the same in a lot of ways.
Q: You’ll compete in the XFINITY race at Atlanta where you’ll face younger guys such as Chase Elliott. But you’ll also race veteran Cup guys such as Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano. Do you look forward to getting in there and matching yourself up against such a prism of experience and skill?
A: Yeah, I do. I think those guys, especially the Cup guys, coming in and doing these races really lets young guys like me and others, kind of lets us see where our skills really lie. Being able to go up and run against those guys is always exciting for us and is something I look forward to. I think you always want to go out and try and beat them, but at the same time, you just want to see if you can really keep up with them and challenge them.
Q: Speaking of Chase Elliott, you’ve raced against him quite a bit, haven’t you?
A: Yes, I have. I have. We raced together in late models a bunch. And we’ve raced in Trucks a little bit in the past years and now we race in the XFINITY Series.
Q: Do you guys get along pretty well?
A: I don’t know if you’d exactly say that. He’s definitely the one that I think me and other young guys really kind of put ourselves up against to see where we lie. We all want to try and go out and better ourselves in that direction.
Q: Chase and his father Bill — and the entire Elliott family — have a remarkable history in NASCAR. You, on the other hand, sort of came out of nowhere. Would you agree?
A: I do! I’m from Michigan and just kind of got into racing. I’m a first-generation driver. I raced quarter midgets and then right on up and raced street stocks and late models, and we were able to win some races along the way and burst onto the NASCAR scene. I’m proud of the way we were able to do it, and it’s definitely cool to be a first-generation driver. That’s something I’m pretty proud of. I’m always proud to be able to say I was the first one in our family to do something like this.
Q: How did you first catch Kyle Busch’s eye? How did the relationship between you guys start up?
A: That happened back in 2012, back when we were running late models. Kyle was running some late model races that year, and we ended up racing against each other at the end of the year at the Snowball Derby and I ended up beating Kyle at that race and we ended up talking after that. We came together for five Truck races and we worked from there.
Q: Have you talked with Kyle about this forthcoming weekend at all?
A: I have. I have. I definitely lean on him for advice — pretty much everywhere we go. Especially this weekend in going somewhere I’ve never been. He’s really a resource that I can utilize to pull a lot of information out of. He really quickens my learning curve just with things that would take me laps and laps to run around a place. The deal is to go to him and say, "Hey, how do I do this?" He’s definitely a resource I’ve used many, many times before and one I’ll, for sure, be using this weekend.
Q: He’s been a mentor to you then?
A: Yeah, yeah he has been over the last couple of years. He’s taught me a lot. He’s really been the guy that’s been able to teach me a lot of things that I would never have found out on my own. To have him there to share his experience in NASCAR over the past couple of years has been pretty beneficial.
Q: How did he sound when you spoke with him? Is he going to watch you on TV?
A: Yeah, I’m sure he is. He was in good spirits, and it was good to hear from him and I’m sure he’ll be watching on Saturday.
Q: What’s the master plan for you this weekend?
A: We do want to go win a race, but at the same time, we just want to be in the hunt. That’s really the goal for us every weekend. I’m still trying to get to the point in the XFINITY Series where I feel like we can win every weekend, and I feel like we’re right on the verge of that. We want to go out and try and challenge and get my first win in that series. I think that would be pretty cool for us. If we can be up there and in the mix with those Cup guys and just challenging them up front in the top five or even for a win, I think that would be a win for us.
Q: Last question: Are you hoping to get a Sprint Cup start this year?
A: You know, I hope so. I hope it’s in the cards. At the same time, I don’t think there is any rush for me. I’d definitely like to try it out, you know? I think every young guy wants to do at that level. We’ll have to wait and see and see how the future plays out.
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