1. Erik Benjamin Jones was born on May 30,1996 and is an American professional stock car racing driver.
61 Facts About Erik Jones
1. 2.
Erik Jones competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No 43 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club.
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Erik Jones's nicknames are EJ, his initials, and That Jones Boy, given to him by announcer Ken Squier.
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Until 2021, Jones had spent his entire NASCAR and ARCA career with Toyota, and while in their driver development program, he won the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship.
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Erik Jones began his racing career at the age of seven, in quarter-midget racing; he began racing stock cars at age 13, and began competing in the ASA Late Model Series in 2010, becoming the youngest-ever winner of the Oktoberfest race at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway.
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In December 2012, Erik Jones held off NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch to win the prestigious Snowball Derby.
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In December 2013, Erik Jones was named the winner of the 2013 Snowball Derby after the original winner, Chase Elliott, was disqualified after post-race inspections revealed a piece of tungsten in his car.
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Erik Jones moved to the ARCA Racing Series for the 2012 season, becoming the first-ever driver to compete in the series at the age of 15; competing in 10 of the series' 19 races, he posted a best finish of third at Winchester Speedway and Berlin Raceway.
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In 2013 Erik Jones picked up his first ARCA Racing Series win at Berlin Raceway after dominating the whole race.
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In March 2013, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced that it had signed Erik Jones to drive in five age-eligible Camping World Truck Series races in the team's No 51 Toyota Tundra, driving at Martinsville Speedway, Rockingham Speedway and Iowa Speedway, as NASCAR relaxed the "Kyle Busch Rule" in that series where the minimum age was reduced from 18 to 16 at ovals shorter than 2,000 meters and road courses.
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Erik Jones finished second in his third career start in the series at Iowa.
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On November 8,2013, Erik Jones became the youngest driver ever to win in the history of NASCAR's top-level competition to that time, winning the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway over Ross Chastain at the age of 17 years, five months and eight days.
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On July 11,2014, at Iowa Speedway, Erik Jones dueled Ryan Blaney and ultimately held him off for the win.
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On September 27,2014, Erik Jones won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for his first longer track win.
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On November 7,2014, Erik Jones picked up his 4th career Truck Series win under the red flag at Phoenix, due to a power outage.
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On November 6,2014, it was announced that Erik Jones would run the full 2015 season in the Trucks for KBM, his first age-eligible season racing for a championship, as well as running an increased slate of races for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series.
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In 2015, Erik Jones started his season strong with a 2nd place finish at Daytona International Speedway.
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At Kansas Speedway, Erik Jones would pick up his first pole of the season.
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Erik Jones battled with defending champion Matt Crafton and Reddick during the 2015 season and beat them to win the Championship.
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The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the plan shifting to Charlotte Motor Speedway, but Erik Jones was excluded from the 40-truck field as the No 5 had no points in the owner's standings.
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On June 19,2014, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Erik Jones will run three races with the team's No 20 in the Nationwide Series after he became age-eligible.
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Erik Jones would make his Nationwide Series debut a month later in the EnjoyIllinois.
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In 2015, Erik Jones ran 25 races in the renamed Xfinity Series, splitting the No 20 and No 54 Toyotas for JGR.
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Later in the year, Erik Jones completed a weekend sweep, winning at Iowa in the Truck Series for the first time in 2015 and at Chicagoland in the Xfinity Series in the No 54, battling Ryan Blaney for his second career Xfinity Series win.
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Erik Jones started racing full-time in the Xfinity Series for JGR in 2016, driving the No 20.
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Erik Jones won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus by being the highest-finishing Xfinity Series regular out of the four who qualified through the heat races.
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Erik Jones won for the second time in 2016 at Dover in May, again winning the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus.
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Erik Jones then set the fastest time in qualifying for the Hisense 4K TV 300, winning the 9th straight pole for JGR.
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In 2017, as he began racing full-time in the Cup Series, Erik Jones ran a part-time Xfinity schedule.
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Erik Jones drove the XCI Racing No 81 Toyota at the 2019 Food City 300 at Bristol, where he finished 37th after being involved in a multi-car pileup with Christopher Bell, Cole Custer, and Joey Logano.
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Erik Jones unofficially debuted in the Sprint Cup Series during the 2015 Food City 500, when he relieved Denny Hamlin in the No 11 due to Hamlin's neck spasms.
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Erik Jones finished 12th after blowing a tire late at Texas Motor Speedway.
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Erik Jones drove the car again at Phoenix International Raceway to a 19th-place finish.
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Erik Jones led 260 laps in the race after leading only 50 in his 26 prior starts in the series.
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On July 11,2017, it was announced that Erik Jones would make the long-anticipated move to the JGR No 20 car full-time in 2018, replacing Kenseth.
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On July 7,2018, Erik Jones captured his first career Cup Series win at the 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway after going into overtime second alongside Truex Jr.
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On September 2,2019, Erik Jones scored his second career Cup Series win at Darlington, securing him in the 2019 Playoffs.
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Erik Jones returned to the track 16 laps down, Jones ultimately finished 36th, 26 points from the cutoff line.
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At Richmond, Erik Jones ran top 10 in the latter part of the night and was able to finish 4th, but was disqualified when his car was discovered to have a rear-wheel alignment issue during post-race inspection.
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Erik Jones left Richmond 45 points down from the cutoff line.
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Erik Jones was in a must-win situation heading to the Charlotte Roval.
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However coming to a restart, Erik Jones was involved in a multi-car incident heading into turn 1.
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Erik Jones kicked off 2020 by winning the Busch Clash; despite being involved in three accidents towards the end of the race, further wrecks on the field led to multiple overtime attempts.
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Erik Jones would go winless for the first time since his rookie season in 2017 and finish 17th in points.
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On October 21,2020, Erik Jones was confirmed to drive the Richard Petty Motorsports No 43 entry in 2021, replacing Bubba Wallace.
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RPM was eventually purchased by GMS Racing to form Petty GMS, and Erik Jones was joined by Ty Dillon as teammate.
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At Fontana, Erik Jones scored his first top-five since 2020 by finishing third.
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Erik Jones started the 2023 season with hard rock band Guns N' Roses sponsoring the No 43 for the 2023 Daytona 500, where he finished 37th after wrecking out early.
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At Talladega, Erik Jones earned his third consecutive sixth place finish at the track, and claim his second top-10 of the season.
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Erik Jones earned his fifth top-10 of the season at Michigan, finishing 10th.
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At Kansas, Erik Jones started on the front row for an overtime restart after a two-tire gamble.
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Erik Jones ultimately finished 3rd, his first top-5 since his victory at the 2022 Cook Out Southern 500 and his seventh top-10 of the season.
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Erik Jones ended the season 27th in the points standings, with seven top-10s and one top-5.
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Erik Jones started the 2024 Season with an eighth-place finish in the Daytona 500.
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Erik Jones was complaining about his back but managed to get out of the car on his own.
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Erik Jones was released from the infield care center, but a couple of hours later, he returned to the care center where it was decided to take him to the hospital for further evaluation.
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Erik Jones later announced that he had suffered a compression fracture in a lower vertebra and would miss Dover.
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Erik Jones started the 2025 season with a 12th place finish at the 2025 Daytona 500.
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Erik Jones, born May 30,1996, in Byron, Michigan, is a graduate of Swartz Creek Academy.
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Erik Jones received his high school diploma at Texas Motor Speedway before the WinStar World Casino 400K Camping World Truck Series race on June 6,2014.
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Erik Jones started dating race car driver Holly Shelton in 2018.