Erik Jones, who has only been in the seat of a race car once since he defended his Snowball Derby title six months ago, is set to break the cabin fever with his first-ever double-duty weekend. The young gun will compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series WinStar World Casino & Resort 400 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth Friday night and the ARCA Midwest Tour’s Swiss Colony Howie Lettow Memorial 150 Super Late model event at the Milwaukee (Wis.) Mile Sunday. Jones, who turned 18 last week, will make his superspeedway debut at Texas Motor Speedway Friday and jet north over 1,000 miles to Milwaukee Saturday morning, where he will practice Kyle Busch Motorsports’ #51 ToyotaCare Camry in preparation for the team’s title defense of the prestigious Super Late Model event on Sunday.(Kyle Busch Motorsports)(6-3-2014)
UPDATE: Many high school seniors will be walking across a stage this week to receive their diploma in recognition of years of hard work. For Erik Jones, his stage will be in front of a national television audience on the frontstretch of Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth before Friday night’s WinStar World Casino & Resort 400 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event. After finishing his freshman year at Byron High Scholl in Byron, Mich., Jones and his family decided the best route to being a successful student and continuing to pursue a career as a race car driver was to complete his studies online through the Swartz Creek Global Learning Hub in nearby Swartz Creek, Mich. Three years later, he has completed his studies and earned the right to walk the stage with the rest of the Swartz Creek students Friday night. The only problem is after turning 18 last week, he is now eligible to run NASCAR’s mile-and-a-half and larger tracks and the talented youngster will be behind the wheel of the #51 Hiring Our Heroes/ToyotaCare Tundra for Friday night’s 167-lap event. Upon hearing that Jones was going to miss his graduation, the staff at Texas Motor Speedway decided to bring the ceremony to him. The racing prodigy will walk across the stage in his cap and gown when his name is called during driver introductions and he will be presented his diploma by track president Eddie Gossage. Once across the stage, the fun and games will end and Jones will be faced with one of his biggest challenges. The Michigan native will be competing in his first event on a mile-and-a-half track in one of NASCAR’s top three divisions.(Kyle Busch Motorsports)
