Furniture Row Racing confirmed the worst kept secret in the NASCAR world of this past week in that Erik Jones will drive their second car in 2017.
Speaking in the media center at Watkins Glen International, the team announced that they would expand to a second full-time team starting in 2017. The car will be the No. 77 Toyota and will be driven by the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion.
“It’s all come together in the last month,” said team owner Barney Visser. “To find a driver like Erik, a sponsor like 5-hour Energy, along with our technical agreement with Gibbs, we think we’re going to be able to run right up where we need to run. We’re very excited to get it all pulled together here.”
“I was anxious for this day,” Jones said about the announcement. “I’m excited to be here. It’s cool to be a part of Furniture Row and with them growing, and along with 5-hour Energy too. A big company like that is cool this early in my racing career and something that I’ve always wanted. It’s a good feel all around. To see it come together in the past month or so has been a pretty cool experience for me. I have a lot left to do this year, but I’m excited for next year.”
Jones is signed to drive the car for just this season.
On the status of getting a charter, Visser said there are “several charters out there that we’re hearing are available. We’ve been looking at it some. We’re not exactly sure where we’re going to be on that. We are going to get a charter, but we’re not sure who we’re going to get it from yet.”
At the moment, no crew chief has been named to the team.
“We’re certainly looking to see what the best fits would be in starting that process,” said FRR President Joe Garone. “There’s a lot of those kinds of things ahead of us. We’ll start tackling that after this announcement.”
