Fresh off his first win of the 2019 Monster Energy Cup Series season to clinch a playoff berth, Erik Jones has signed an extension with Joe Gibbs Racing. Announced on Friday, it will keep him in the #20 Toyota Camry for 2020.
“I’m so happy to finally have my plans for 2020 confirmed and to talk about it,” Jones said in a team release. “I’m excited to be staying with Joe Gibbs Racing and the 20 team and to continue the success that we have built over the last two years in the Cup Series. I put my heart and soul into this and this race team. This is my living and how I want to make a career and what I want to do. I’ve been racing with JGR since 2014 and it’s really cool to be able to continue with the foundation we’ve built over the years and hopefully win more races and contend for championships together.”
Currently in his third full-time Cup season and second with JGR, he scored his first victory of the season in Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. His first win since the Daytona International Speedway July race in 2018, the Southern 500 win came in his 100th career Cup start after holding off JGR team-mate Kyle Busch. With thirteen top-ten finishes and nine top-five runs to go with his victory, he is currently twelfth in points entering Sunday’s regular season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Jones replaced Matt Kenseth in the #20 in 2018 after spending his rookie year with the now-defunct Furniture Row Racing. In his first year with JGR’s Cup stable, he finished nineteenth in the standings with eighteen top tens, nine top fives, a pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the Daytona win.
“Erik has accomplished so much in our sport already and yet, he really is just at the start of a long career,” team owner Joe Gibbs added. “He’s been a part of Joe Gibbs Racing for almost his entire professional career and we’re excited to see what the future holds for him.”
