NASCAR: Joe Gibbs confirms Erik Jones ‘has a deal’ with the team

Following Erik Jones’s first victory of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season, Joe Gibbs confirmed that he “has a deal” with Joe Gibbs Racing.

There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the future of the driver who replaced Matt Kenseth behind the wheel of the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota ahead of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, Erik Jones.

While his three teammates entered the 25th race of the 36-race 2019 season each with four victories so far this year, the 23-year-old Byron, Michigan native entered it with just one career victory in 99 starts, including 60 starts as a full-time Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

There had been speculation that Jones would be sent to Leavine Family Racing to replace Matt DiBenedetto, who already confirmed that the team will not extend his contract through next season, and that Jones would be replaced by Christopher Bell, the Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity Series superstar.

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Jones has stated throughout the season that he does not believe that this will be the case, stating multiple times that he and Joe Gibbs Racing were “close” to a deal through the 2020 season.

Team owner Joe Gibbs himself even dropped a hint at the end of July signaling that Jones would be back behind the wheel of the #20 Toyota next year, and the rumors that have circulated since then have made it appear as though this is all but a done deal.

Jones secured the second victory of his Cup Series career by winning Sunday night’s/Monday morning’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, so if it wasn’t already a done deal, Jones sure made it difficult for Joe Gibbs Racing to move him out of the #20 Toyota by the time the season ends.

But following Jones’s first victory of the 2019 season, Joe Gibbs confirmed that he “has a deal” with Joe Gibbs Racing, although he offered no specifics as to what that deal might entail. He confirmed this on the SiriusXM NASCAR Post-Race Show.

With all things considered, it seems pretty safe to say that Jones will be back in the Cup Series with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2020.

When will Joe Gibbs Racing formally confirm that Erik Jones is set to return to the team in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season? Given how much waiting has already taken place, it wouldn’t be surprising if it still took a while, but at the same time, it would surprise nobody if it happened within days.