{"id":20215,"date":"2018-07-10T15:43:11","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T20:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=20215"},"modified":"2018-07-10T15:52:59","modified_gmt":"2018-07-10T20:52:59","slug":"erik-jones-showing-hes-ready-to-rise-to-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/10\/erik-jones-showing-hes-ready-to-rise-to-the-top\/","title":{"rendered":"Erik Jones showing he\u2019s ready to rise to the top"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jordan Bianchi, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

It was wild, often chaotic and featured no shortage of drama. The kind of race that either seemingly rewards the patience of a veteran, or where the spotlight shines on an unlikely winner whose turn comes via favorable circumstances brought about by half the 40-car field not seeing the finish due to being involved in one of the multitude of accidents.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 buyatoyota.com Toyota, applies the winner’s sticker in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 7, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Erik Jones<\/strong> is not a veteran of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/a>, nor should his first career Cup win Saturday night in the Coke Zero Sugar 400<\/strong> at Daytona International Speedway<\/strong> be considered much of a surprise. Instead, the triumph was the breakout moment for the 22-year-old where he outdueled reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr.<\/strong> by completing a last-lap pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow \u2018bout that race, boys and girls?\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Amidst a time when a throng of young drivers have garnered attention for their exploits on the track and what their personalities may do for NASCAR beyond the confines of the speedway, Jones has often found himself falling behind Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and others when the discussion centers around who will carry NASCAR forward.<\/p>\n

But while Jones may not always garner the majority of the headlines, his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 speaks of someone more than capable of picking up the slack created by the recent retirements of Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart. It is something he\u2019s proven at every level on his way to Cup and now doing so at stock car racing\u2019s highest rung.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 buyatoyota.com Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 7, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Matt Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

As a 16-year-old, Jones beat Kyle Busch to win the prestigious Snowball Derby late model race. That victory caught Busch\u2019s attention and he signed Jones to drive for his own late model team. And Busch wasn\u2019t the only one impressed by Jones\u2019 talent. Also enamored was Toyota, which made Jones one of the first prospects of its driver developmental program, a specifically designed feeder system where the manufacturer cultivates young talents by gradually advancing them through each step of the development process that includes all three NASCAR touring series, its regional divisions, ARCA and midget cars.<\/p>\n

Aligned with Toyota and with Busch acting as big brother\/mentor, Jones quickly ascended from relative obscurity to a driver many within the garage believe will be an eventual Monster Energy Series champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Erik is fast,\u201d team owner Joe Gibbs said. \u201cThat’s one thing about him. I think wherever he goes, he’s not afraid to push it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 buyatoyota.com Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 7, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Jones\u2019 climb up the NASCAR\u2019s development ladder included him becoming the then-youngest winner in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history when at 17 years, five months and eight days he won at ISM Raceway in November, 2013. Two years later, he captured the series championship in the first season he was eligible to run every race. Promoted to the NASCAR Xfinity Series full-time in 2016, Jones nearly won the championship as a rookie. The following year saw Jones win Monster Energy Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a year in the Cup Series you grow a lot,\u201d Jones said. \u201cYou learn so much. I never learned as much in any other series in any other year racing as I did last year, and things that I learned last year are things that I’ll take with me probably for the rest of my career in NASCAR.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s definitely been a journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

A successful rookie season with Furniture Row Racing, and the promise of what was to come, prompted Gibbs to move Jones over to his four-car team to replace former series champion Matt Kenseth in the No. 20. Joining Joe Gibbs Racing brought heightened expectations and opened up Gibbs to criticism if the move backfired, though any concerns have been extinguished with Jones turning in a fine second season in Cup — even before winning Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 buyatoyota.com Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 7, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cYou feel the pressure, for sure, coming into the year taking over and working with almost the same group that was with Matt last year,\u201d Jones said. \u201cYou feel that, and you want to go out and perform and run really well.<\/p>\n

The Daytona win came in Jones\u2019 57th<\/sup> career start, fewer than it took Larson (99) and Blaney (68). Meanwhile, Elliott is still searching for his first win in his 96th start Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these young guys, myself, Chase, Ryan, Daniel (Suarez), are going to all win races,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt just takes time to learn and grow. We’re racing guys that are 10-, 15-year veterans of the sport, and they’re pretty good at it. It takes time to catch up, but I feel like we’ve all done a pretty good job, and we’re getting closer every week.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Jones, it is evident it won\u2019t take him nearly as long to get his second win even if his first win did occur in relatively short order. Now a virtually lock to qualify for the Playoffs, he doesn\u2019t have to concern himself with life on the postseason bubble.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s great to get our first win knocked out,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI hope and I’m sure we’re going to have opportunities to win some of these next nine [races] before the playoffs, and hopefully have a nice little championship run here coming up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely feel like this race, this win has lifted a lot of weight off my shoulders, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jordan Bianchi, NASCAR Wire Service It was wild, often chaotic and featured no shortage of drama. The kind of race that either seemingly rewards the patience of a veteran, or where the spotlight shines on an unlikely winner whose turn comes via favorable circumstances brought about by half the 40-car field not seeing the finish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":20178,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[180,16],"class_list":["post-20215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-erik-jones","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/356634.jpg?fit=2042%2C1440&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-5g3","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20215"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20217,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20215\/revisions\/20217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}