2011 JEGS/CRA Champion & Two-Time Winchester 400 Winner to officially make NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut
Huntersville, North Carolina (Thursday, April 30, 2015): Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) announced today that Erik Jones will fill in for Kyle Busch in the No. 18 M&M’S Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) starting at Kansas Speedway on May 9, 2015. This will mark the 18-year-old Byron, Michigan native’s first officialNASCAR Sprint Cup Series start.
“I’m pretty excited and grateful for the opportunity to drive the No. 18 M&M’S Toyota Camry in the Sprint Cup Series and make my debut for Joe Gibbs Racing. This is a really good opportunity for me. We are going to try to manage our expectations and if we can go out and get a top-15 run and gain some experience, that would be a great day for us. I’m also excited about representing M&M’S, a great longtime partner at JGR and such a well-known brand. I am looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the M&M’S Toyota at Kansas.”
At Kansas, Jones will be running a special paint scheme highlighting M&M’S support of Red Nose Day on the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota.
Mars is proud to be a partner of Red Nose Day, a major charitable event that will be held on May 21, 2015. The M&M’S Brand is one of the world’s most beloved chocolate candies and a leader in colorful fun, so it’s a natural fit to leverage the M&M’S brand and humor to help raise money through this partnership. M&M’S is bringing Red Nose Day to NASCAR for the first time at Kansas and May 15 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
Jones currently runs full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) for Kyle Busch Motorsports and a partial schedule for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series(NXS).
With three races complete in the 2015 NCWTS season, Jones sits third in the point standings, six points out of the lead on the heels of two top-five and three top-10 finishes to start the season. In just 20-career starts in the series, Jones has earned four wins.
Continuing to impress, Jones has made his mark in the XFINITY Series, making eight starts this season between the No. 20 and No. 54 Camry’s. In those starts, Jones has garnered one win, three poles and five top-five finishes.
Kansas will mark Jones first official Cup Series start, but earlier this season he was able to make laps in the No. 11 Toyota Camry at Bristol Motor Speedway after Denny Hamlin was unable to continue the race following an extended rain delay. Jones finished the race in the 26th position.
About Joe Gibbs Racing:
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is one of the premier organizations in NASCAR with four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams, three NASCAR XFINITY Series teams and a driver development program. Its 2015 driver lineup consists of Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, and Carl Edwards in the Sprint Cup Series. Meanwhile Daniel Suarez will run fulltime in the NASCAR XFINITY Series as one of JGR’s three teams with Erik Jones coming on board to run a partial schedule along with Busch, Hamlin, Kenseth, and Kenny Habul. Cody Coughlin is currently in JGR’s driver development program. Based in Huntersville, N.C., and owned by Joe Gibbs — a three-time Super Bowl winner as head coach of the Washington Redskins and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame — JGR has competed in NASCAR since 1992, winning three Cup Series championships, and four Nationwide Series owner’s championships along with more than 200 NASCAR races, including three Brickyard 400s and the 1993 Daytona 500.
