Press Updates
June 1st, 2019
Pocono Raceway Qualifying Report
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage traveled north to Pocono Raceway for “Tricky Triangle” qualifying on Saturday afternoon. After two prior practice sessions Friday when the 20 DeWalt Camry ran top 16 then top eight speeds, the Joe Gibbs Racing unit knew they’d continue to improve through the weekend. Their suspicions were correct as Erik Jones took to the 2.5-mile superspeedway on Saturday and with a single-file qualifying format drove his Camry to a fourth-place qualifying spot at 172.410mph. The team will now prepare for the Sunday race start. When asked about race strategy Jones discussed, “I think strategy calls like two tires, no tires, etc will help with track position in the race. You look at the last couple of years and some of the times we’ve got really good finishes here have been some strategy calls – pitting before the stage ends, taking two tires at the stage breaks or staying out even at the stage breaks. I think there’s going to be a lot of that. The last couple of years it was a mixed bag of who was doing that and who wasn’t doing it, but I think this year you’re going to get a majority of cars who are probably going to play that game and everybody is going to be on that plan. Fortunately for us, we’re starting really well in the top five there in fourth. I think we did a good job there and we just need to keep it. You can’t give that track position up all day now. It’s just going to be tough to get it back.” Sunday’s race will begin at 2:00pm ET and will be broadcast on FS1.
Read MoreMay 23rd, 2019
Charlotte Coca-Cola 600 Qualifying Report
Thursday night the NASCAR community returned to their ‘home track’ of Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway and conducted single-car qualifying runs for the famed Coca-Cola 600 Memorial Day race event. Erik Jones and the No. 20 Reser’s Toyota race team drove over 182.00 mph to complete a 16th place qualifying effort. This result placed Jones in the eighth row for the green flag start of the long 600-mile event Sunday night. Tune in to FOX at 6pm to see the superstars of NASCAR battle the elements and each other in celebration and support of Memorial Day weekend.
Read MoreMay 17th, 2019
Monster Energy All Star Qualifying
Friday night at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series took to the race track for a modified qualifying session to set the field for the exclusive non-points All-Star race event. The timed qualifying lap would include a live pit road visit executed by each driver’s over the wall pit crew. Earlier in the day Erik Jones and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team ran speeds that produced top-10 practice laps, finishing 7th quick in final practice. The team continued that momentum with a strong qualifying run over 178.000 mph also earning a 7th place starting position for the Saturday night main event. Should Jones pull off the All-Star victory with his Craftsman team, he takes home a cool $1 million in prize money. Post qualifying the driver commented on his chances, “Qualifying with a live pit stop was different. I got a few runs in earlier trying to figure it out. I didn’t know how much you really had to adjust for how much grip it was going to gain and I changed some stuff – brakes settings-wise – so all that kind of together got me in the box pretty slow. Not too bad. We’ll start from there. Obviously we’ll be in the top 10, so that’s a good thing. The Craftsman Camry has got a lot of speed.”
Read MoreMay 10th, 2019
Kansas Speedway Qualifying Report
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returned to Kansas Speedway Friday for practice and qualifying sessions to set the field for the Digital Ally 400 Saturday night main event. Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 DeWalt team and driver Erik Jones conducted single-car qualifying and posted a fast speed over 176.000 mph. The effort was consistent with the team’s earlier practice session where Jones posted top-12 speeds among the field. When asked about his qualifying effort and the team’s plan for the evening race, Jones explained, “Our qualifying lap was a lot better than we thought. That is always a nice surprise. I think the DeWalt Camry is pretty good, especially in race trim. Hopefully we can keep this up inside the top 10 at the start of the race and that will be a good start for us and we can work our way to the front.” The NASCAR Cup Series event can we seen on FS1 at 7:30pm EST. Jones will start the field from row six.
Read MoreApril 27th, 2019
Talladega Qualifying Report
Friday evening at the famed Alabama raceway that is Talladega Superspeedway, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series field conducted single-car qualifying runs to set the field for Sunday’s main event. While the No. 20 STANLEY Toyota showed fast speed during Thursday’s final practice session, the car wasn’t set up for qualifying speeds. Erik Jones and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates did not transfer into the final 12 qualifying spots at the end of round one, but all know Superspeedway draft racing affords drivers the opportunity to gain positions on track very quickly. Jones and his No. 20 team will start in the 27th position, row 19 but expect the field to move around as positions are gained and lost easily with this type of speedway racing. Post qualifying Jones was recorded stating, “we are trying to get a game plan for tomorrow and how it’s going to race. We don’t know how it’s going to play out yet and I think our STANLEY Camry drives good in traffic since first practice, that’s all that matters. We didn’t make a mock (qualifying) run, didn’t work on single-car speed, so it kind of is what it is there. As far as Sunday’s race, I think we’ll just figure it out as we go.” The GEICO 500 Talladega Superspeedway event can be seen live at 2:00pm ET Sunday on FOX.
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