October 25, 2020 | By Lee Spencer

Erik Jones has unfinished business before moving on to RPM

When Richard Petty Motorsports hired Erik Jones to drive the No. 43 Chevrolet, the team acquired the best possible candidate for the job.

With the exception of Chase Briscoe, who will enter the Cup Series as a rookie in 2021 and has no record to fall back on in NASCAR’s top tour, Jones, 24 has the bluest sky ahead. In 144 starts, he has two wins and two poles in 144 races—and he’s just getting started.

In one of the busiest silly seasons to date, it’s amazing that a free agent with Jones’ potential was still available this late in the process. Then again, it is 2020.

“There were a lot of things in motion, a lot of balls in the air with everything going on this year with the pandemic, everyone has been tightening down,” Jones told RacinBoys.com. “It was not an ideal year to negotiate a contract to be perfectly honest. But I was really excited when RPM reached out to us and was interested in putting something together—and we went to work on it right away.

“We had been talking to other teams, but RPM was the one I had the most interest in just from the standpoint that over the last few years, they’ve been heading in the right direction. They’ve on an upward trend. And I feel like they have a lot of good pieces in place that really fit both of our needs and our wants as a team and a driver—and that’s exciting.

“With it being a single-car team, that was something else I was really interested in. And honestly, there’s nothing much cooler to say than you drive for the King. That’s a pretty cool thing.”

Jones was fast-tracked through the Toyota driver development program shortly after he beat Kyle Busch in 2012 Snowball Derby. At 16, he ran a limited schedule on the ARCA Menard’s Series later that year but it was his five starts in the 2013 Camping World Truck Series that distinguished Jones from his peers. In five starts behind the wheel of the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Tundra, Jones didn’t finish worse than ninth. He completed every lap raced and won at Phoenix Raceway in his fifth start.

With a 12-race truck schedule in 2104, Jones delivered three wins, two poles, five top-fives and eight top 10s. Toyota tested Jones’ skills on the Xfinity tour and in three starts, he averaged a 4.3 qualifying effort and didn’t finish worse than eighth. The following year, Jones won the 2015 truck championship with three wins, five poles and 20 top 10s in 23 starts. The 19-year-old scored two wins and three poles running a limited 23-race Xfinity run. Joe Gibbs Racing also fielded three Cup races for Jones. His best result of 12th came at Texas Motor Speedway.

Despite losing his father to cancer in June of 2016, Jones was the class of the Xfinity Series season that season. He earned four wins and nine poles but failed to transfer to the Championship 4 round to battle for the title. His JGR teammate Daniel Suarez did advance to the final four, won the race and the championship. Both drivers graduated to Cup the next year and Jones, who was shipped off for a year to Furniture Row to race the No. 77 Toyota, won rookie honors and become the first driver to accomplish that feat in all three tours.

Jones’ JGR transition in 2018 resulted in a win at Daytona. Unfortunately, he and fellow Cup sophomore Suarez were overshadowed by Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. The addition of another Cup champion, Martin Truex Jr., who came to Gibbs and won seven races in his first season, knocked Jones even further down the pecking order but he was able to retain his ride.

With the emergence of Christopher Bell and not enough seats to go around, it was just a matter of time for Jones. Still, taking over one of the most iconic seats in the history of NASCAR is pure motivation.

“From my side, I feel like I still have a lot to prove in this sport,” Jones said. “Obviously, getting to Victory Lane with RPM and the 43 car is the number one goal for next year. And I think they’re motivated as well. They want to get back to running up front consistently and competing for wins, contending for wins and that’s the goal.

“It’s a unique pairing and good timing for both of us to get together. Things really worked out and fell into place.”

Majority team owner Andy Murstein feels the same about Jones.

“Obviously, we are very excited about getting a driver of Erik’s capabilities,” Murstein said. “The stars aligned perfectly for us. At 24, we feel he is one of the top young talents in the sport. As a one-car team, we are able to give him 100-percent of our resources and focus.

“Based on recent events for all of us, Erik and the King and I, we are very hungry to prove others wrong. This is really a perfect match.”

Jones is encouraged to have an organization focussed on one effort. He’s also delighted to have a veteran crew chief such as Jerry Baxter calling the shots. The two worked alongside each other at KBM during Jones’ time in trucks.

“I look at the way I came into the racing world and growing up, it was just a lot of me, my family, my dad and some others working on our own late models,” Jones said. “It was just us. That reminds me a lot of RPM. It’s one team, one goal. And that was something that was really enticing to me and something I wanted to experience at this level.

“Talking to everybody at RPM, it’s 100-percent focus on one car and I think there’s something to be said for that. The other cool part is the opportunity to know everybody. I never got to know everyone at JGR. Obviously, it’s a huge company. At RPM, I’ll know everyone who will have a hand at working on the car. For me, that will be really enjoyable.”

Jones would still like to pick up one last win in the No. 20 Cup car before moving on. Of the three races remaining, his best opportunity is this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway where Jones has the best average finish of drivers with multiple starts—including six top 10s in his last six starts.

“I’m really looking forward to Texas,” Jones said. “It’s been a great track for us. We’ve run really well there. We’ve run up front. We’ve had chances to win. Strategy just didn’t play out for us there.

“That’s the thing, this whole 20 team is still focussed on winning every race. That’s been the neat thing for me, none of the guys over there have let up at all. They continue to work hard. Nothing really matters than to go out and win and I think Texas is the best shot to do that.”