NASCAR: Erik Jones tipped to replace Bubba Wallace in 2021
By Asher Fair
Erik Jones is reportedly in advanced talks to replace Bubba Wallace at Richard Petty Motorsports in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.
In early August, it was announced that Erik Jones would not be back for a fourth year behind the wheel of the #20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series, and it was later confirmed that Leavine Family Racing’s Christopher Bell would be his replacement.
More than two months later, the 24-year-old Byron, Michigan native is still without a ride for next year. With that being said, he recently told Beyond the Flag that he was “pretty close” to having something to announce, and he was confident that this announcement would be for a Cup Series ride, not an Xfinity Series or Truck Series seat.
Now we may be one step closer to finding out where that ride may be.
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Richard Petty Motorsports have an open seat behind the wheel of the #43 Chevrolet next year, as Bubba Wallace announced last month that he would not be back for what would have been a fourth season driving for Richard Petty’s team.
While specific details about his new deal haven’t been announced, Wallace is set to compete for a newly created one-car team owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin next year, a move that was also confirmed last month.
Several drivers have been linked to the iconic #43 car, but all signs are pointing to Jones ending up as the replacement for the 27-year-old Mobile, Alabama native starting with February’s Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Jones has reportedly been in talks with the team for quite a while, and according to Sports Business Journal‘s Adam Stern, those talks have advanced over the last several days.
.@Erik_Jones is in discussions with @RPMotorsports about succeeding @BubbaWallace in the No. 43 next year, with the talks advancing in recent days, per people familiar. pic.twitter.com/l31G8yxepd
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) October 16, 2020
Over the summer, Richard Petty Motorsports co-owner Andrew Murstein hinted several times about the team making some major announcements regarding new investors, so it will be interesting to see what all is involved here with Jones’s deal if he indeed ends up competing for the team next year.
Jones has also been linked to Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing, although the likelihood of him ending up at either one of those teams has decreased drastically in recent weeks given the additional developments that have come from those four-car organizations.
Jones currently sits in 17th place in the championship standings as the highest non-playoff driver after failing to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since his rookie year in 2017 when he drove for Furniture Row Racing. His top finish of the season is his second place finish at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this month.
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On points alone, he would sit in 15th in the standings, ahead of playoff drivers Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing and Cole Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing.