Erik Jones to drive No. 77 Toyota for Furniture Row Racing in 2017
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Erik Jones is moving on up, and Toyota is providing him with a deluxe ride in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Jones, the 2015 Camping World Truck Series champion and currently the top-seeded driver in this year's Xfinity Series Chase grid with three race wins, will drive the No. 77 Toyota for Furniture Row Racing in the Cup Series in 2017 with sponsorship from 5-Hour Energy.
The 20-year old from Byron, Michigan is one of stock car racing's fastest rising stars, graduating to the Cup Series after spending just one full season in each of NASCAR's national series.
"I'm excited and anxious at the same time," said Jones. "It's a good fit all around. To see it all come together over the last month or so has been a pretty cool experience for me. I've got a lot to do this year yet, but definitely excited for next year."
Jones made three Cup Series starts in 2015 for Toyota teams in a substitute role. He qualified in the top 12 each time, but his average finish was 23.6.
"It was a big learning curve for me doing those few Cup races," Jones said. "I always felt like we had decent speed, but a lot of it was putting a whole race together -- all the little things you would call 'special teams,' I guess -- green flag stops and making sure you're hitting all those things right was the hardest thing for me.
"It's a big jump going from a field where 10 or 12 cars can win to a field where 20 cars can win, and all those guys are extremely talented," he added. "It's definitely going to be tough, but I think I'm in the best situation to succeed."
Furniture Row Racing owner Barney Visser said the team will attempt to gain a NASCAR charter for the No. 77 rather than competing as an open entry.
"We're very excited to have all the components of a second race team come together," he said. "The shop can easily handle two cars, and we think we're going to be more efficient per car by running two cars.
"We think we're going to be able to run right up where we need to run."
Toyota has aggressively built its NASCAR program over the last few years. In 2015, it recruited FRR and driver Martin Truex Jr. into the fold while creating a technical alliance with its flagship team, Joe Gibbs Racing.
Toyota also has supported and groomed a group of young drivers, including Jones, William Byron and Christopher Bell.
"It was less than four years ago that Erik Jones, famously now, beat Kyle Busch in the Snowball Derby Super Modified race," remarked Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson. "Next year, for him to ascend to the Cup Series with Furniture Row Racing is a spectacular story and Toyota is the fortunate and common denominator in that equation.
"This is the first time a Toyota driver has grown from the grassroots ranks all the way through NASCAR's national series," he added. "It's a great story for Toyota, but probably a greater story for NASCAR and the future of our sport."
