NASCAR: Joe Gibbs Racing 2021 announcement looming

It hasn’t been confirmed by the team, but Christopher Bell is all lined up to replace Erik Jones at Joe Gibbs Racing after the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Joe Gibbs Racing and Erik Jones both confirmed Thursday that the latter will not be back behind the wheel of the #20 Toyota for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

The 24-year-old Byron, Michigan native entered the 2020 season, his third with the team, on the hot seat after signing a one-year extension last September, and he has not had a great year thus far, sitting in 18th place in the point standings and 19th in the playoff picture with six races remaining in the 26-race regular seasons. He sits 31 points behind the playoff cut line.

The team’s other three drivers, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., are all under contract for 2021 already, so the team will only need to worry about filling one spot in their lineup.

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Fortunately for them, that one decision could not be easier.

While it hasn’t been confirmed by the team, Christopher Bell is in line to replace Jones behind the wheel of the #20 Toyota next year, and that announcement is looming.

Bell is a rookie who competes for the Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated Leavine Family Racing on a multi-year deal that ties him to Gibbs and Toyota. He drove for Joe Gibbs Racing for two seasons in the Xfinity Series and won 15 races before he was promoted to the Cup Series as the driver of the #95 Toyota. No other driver won eight races during that span.

However, preceding the news that Jones would not be returning to Joe Gibbs Racing next year was the news that Leavine Family Racing had been sold and would not operate after the 2020 season.

Toyota made clear on multiple occasions that they wanted to retain both Jones and Bell on long-term deals, but they acknowledged that this may not be possible. The sale of Leavine Family Racing effectively made it impossible.

There had, however, been rumors that Joe Gibbs Racing would find a way to keep both. These rumors involved releasing Denny Hamlin by way of not renewing his sponsorship with FedEx.

Adding fuel to the fire was the fact that earlier this summer, Hamlin went on a boat ride with Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon, the co-owner of the #48 Chevrolet. The #48 Chevrolet happens to be without a driver for next year with Jimmie Johnson having announced last November that he will be retiring after 2020.

But now with Jones out, there is no sense in losing Bell as well, and it is only a matter of time before the 25-year-old Norman, Oklahoma native is confirmed as Joe Gibbs Racing’s newest Cup Series driver, which was the clear goal from the beginning.

Through the first 20 races of his rookie season, Bell sits in 23rd place in the point standings with a top finish of fourth at Pocono Raceway and four additional top 10 finishes.