Erik Jones, the most recent NASCAR XFINITY Series winner will drive the No. 54 Monster Energy Drink Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing in next Saturday night’s Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, CATCHFENCE.com has confirmed.
Jones will make his 15th XFINITY Series start of the season and sixth in the No. 54 Monster Toyota, typically driven by his boss in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kyle Busch.
A race originally slated for Boris Said, Jones, after winning two nights before at Iowa Speedway in the trucks wheeled the No. 54 Monster Energy Drink Toyota Camry from an 11th place starting position and made a late race pass on Ryan Blaney to pick up the team’s second win of the season in the rain postponed Owens Corning AttiCat 300.
With the double triumphant, Jones became the youngest driver to earn two NASCAR wins in one weekend and the first racer to win races at different venues in the same weekend since Carl Edwards pulled off the feat in 2008. A week ago, the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) driver picked up the first of his triple coup at Berlin (Mich.) Raceway in the Battle at Berlin 251 in a backup car.
Busch was injured in the season-opening race at the 2.5-mile superspeedway while attempting to draft with Jones late in the Alert Today Florida 300. The injury sidelined the series’ most active-winner until mid-May when he made his return in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. He has elected to sit out the XFINITY Series race and concentrate on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 race on Sunday night, July 5.
The Las Vegas, Nevada native made his XFINITY Series return earlier this month at Michigan International Speedway where he won after starting 11th.
For Jones, an NASCAR Next alumni, he’ll compete in his third restrictor plate race in XFINITY Series competition. After finishing 18th at Daytona, overheating issues resulted in a 30th-place effort at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in May. He finished second in the NCWTS season opener in February.
Returning to the “World Center of Racing,” Jones hopes for a better outcome.
While chasing a championship in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM), the Byron, Michigan native has competed in all but one XFINITY Series race in 2015 with monstrous success.
Despite a rough start, in 14 races, the 19-year old has earned four poles (three consecutively), two wins, seven top-fives and eight top-10s. Although not eligible for driver points, Jones’ strong finishes have kept the No. 54 safely inside the top-10 in the owners title fight.
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