NASCAR: Erik Jones out at Joe Gibbs Racing after 2020
By Asher Fair
Erik Jones will not return to Joe Gibbs Racing for what would have been a fourth consecutive NASCAR Cup Series season in 2021.
Joe Gibbs Racing have made the decision that they will not move forward with Erik Jones behind the wheel of the #20 Toyota in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Jones is in his third season driving for the team at the Cup level after replacing 2003 champion Matt Kenseth following the 2017 season. His relationship with the team goes back to the 2014 season, when he competed part-time in the Xfinity Series.
His relationship with the team in the Cup Series goes back to 2017, when he drove for the Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated Furniture Row Racing as a rookie.
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“I greatly appreciate the opportunity that JGR provided me with over the last four years and I wish the team nothing but success and good fortune,” Jones said in a team release. “JGR gave me a solid foundation from which to go out and compete at the highest level and I look forward to building on that in the years to come.”
This move also means that Jones will not be back with Toyota next year. He has driven for the manufacturer since 2013 in the ARCA Racing Series and the Truck Series.
“We appreciate all Erik has done for Joe Gibbs Racing over the past several years,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “He joined us as a teenager and has accomplished so much in his time here and we remain focused on the remainder of this season and earning him a spot in the playoffs.”
Joe Gibbs Racing have not yet confirmed who will replace Jones behind the wheel of the #20 Toyota, but the obvious option is Christopher Bell, who drives for the Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated Leavine Family Racing behind the wheel of the #95 Toyota.
Bell is tied to Joe Gibbs and Toyota on a “multi-year” deal, but that deal was not guaranteed to remain intact given that Bob Leavine’s team have been sold and will no longer operate after the 2020 season. With Jones out at Joe Gibbs Racing, however, Bell to the #20 Toyota seems inevitable.
In 92 starts for Joe Gibbs Racing, Jones has won two races and secured an additional 22 top five finishes. He won at Daytona International Speedway in July of 2018 and Darlington Raceway last September. He qualified for the playoffs in both the 2018 and 2019 seasons, but he did not advance past the round of 16 in either year.
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Through the first 20 races of the 2020 season, the 24-year-old Byron, Michigan native sits in 18th place in the point standings and 19th in the playoff picture, 31 points below the playoff cut line, with five top five finishes, eight top 10 finishes and an average finish of 16.9, the worst of his career as a Joe Gibbs Racing driver.