Toyota Racing – Erik Jones
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
NASCAR Media Tour, Charlotte – January 23, 2018
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones was made available to the media in Charlotte:
ERIK JONES, No. 20 DeWALT Tools Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Do you think people are looking at you guys to win off the bat?
“Yeah, I would agree with that. I think in the past, at least from what I can gather from how it was 10 or 15 years ago, you know, if you could kind of stay out of trouble and prove that you were a consistent guy, I think everybody thought the wins would come along with that. But as the times have evolved and changed, I think ‑‑ I can remember getting into my first year in the Truck Series part‑time, and the expectation was to kind of compete and win right off the bat even at that level, and that continued up through the ranks to XFINITY and now to the Cup Series. I think ‑‑ I do agree with that, but I think there also has to be time given, especially at the Cup level. I think at the truck and XFINITY level it’s acceptable to think that way. I think you’ve seen that with a lot of guys over the last few years that come in with a lot of talent and a lot of speed that are able to win right off the bat, but I think the Cup level is kind of a different ballgame in the sense it’s just a lot more challenging. There’s a lot more good competitors, there’s a lot more good cars. It just takes more time to figure it out.”
What have you done to get up to speed with Joe Gibbs Racing since you left Furniture Row?
“Well, I think most of it has been over contact on the phone. A lot of guys have been off moving around and on vacation. I was in a Michigan for a couple months. A lot of it was just staying in touch with Chris (Gayle) and I think keeping up with what he had going on at JGR and the role he was moving back into, trying to figure out exactly what everybody’s roles were going to be. I think as we learn that and figure that out and get to meet the new team ‑‑ I got to go up to the shop yesterday for the first time this year and get fitted in the car and just sit down and kind of start to meet everybody and figure everything out. It is a big transition in some ways, but in some ways it’s not. The same race cars, same people that I’ve really known for a long time, and even worked with some last year in conjunction with Furniture Row. There is some similarities, but there’s also some stuff that I’ll have to learn along the way.”
The fact that the crew chief is transitioning, also, does that make it more comfortable?
“Yeah, I think it makes it more comfortable and a little bit easier. At least you get to work with the same guy for two years in a row, which is something that I really haven’t had the chance much to do in my career from late models to NASCAR. I think Truck Series is the closest I ever got. I got to work with Rudy there for two years, and even that wasn’t consecutive. I had a year off. It’s been something in my career I’ve wanted to build and just haven’t had the opportunity, so this is kind of the first chance I have to continue a relationship for multiple years.”
How is the mindset going into this year as far as your comfort level?
“Well, I think it’s good. I think it’s higher than last year. There were a lot of unknowns last year at this point for myself, at least, going into a new series with a new team, a new group of guys. It was just a lot of things that were really unsettled and weren’t really all figured out yet. At least having everybody in place, knowing Chris (Gayle) and knowing the Cup Series one year better than I did last is definitely an advantage. I have a better feel for the cars and everything to expect there and what’s going to be week in and week out and how the season kind of rolls and progresses. We’ll see how it all goes, but I’m definitely at a more comfortable point with the Cup Series than I was a year ago.”
Is anyone else coming over from Furniture Row or is it just Chris Gayle?
“I believe it’s just Chris. I thought for a while we were going to have a couple other guys come with us, but they ended up staying. A few of them stayed out there, a few of them went for a different opportunity, but I believe Chris is the only one.”
Toyotas were really on a roll the last half of last year. Any reason to think it’ll be any different this year?
“I don’t see why not. I think our speed will still be there like it was last year with Toyota. Obviously you’ve seen Chevrolet roll out a new product for this year. We’ll have to kind of see what that’s going to do. I think obviously that’s going to put them in a position to catch up some. I’m sure they did their homework. You see honestly a lot of similarities between some of the stuff they’ve done with their cars and ours. I think that’ll put them into catch‑up mode some, but I think us having a year under our belt with the new Camry is just really going to make it that much better. I think it’s given us another off‑season to develop on it and know where some of our ‑‑ not many weak points but maybe a few of our weak points were with it and maybe where we can improve and get better, and I think we’ve put in our homework this off‑season to try to step that up even more.”
Do you view this as a step up in expectations, or is the pressure still the same going from Furniture Row to JGR?
“Well, I think at least in my mind it’s really similar. I think I put pressure on myself last year to compete and contend, and I think with Furniture Row last year you saw obviously Martin was the fastest ‑‑ one of, if not the fastest cars week in and week out. I think that pressure to perform was there last year, and I think in a way some people pushed that to the side sometimes because we were a new team over there and we were starting up and there were some hiccups we had to work through. But for the most part I feel like we had the speed and had the opportunities, we just weren’t able to sometimes put the entire race together. I don’t know if the pressure is any higher. I think just looking at the 20 car itself and the legacy it has at JGR, I think some people kind of had pressure on for that, but for me, I think the pressure is always the same. It’s kind of been like that throughout my career. I’ve always pushed myself to contend and win races, and that hasn’t changed for me.”
What does the history of that car mean?
“Well, it’s really special for me. I mean, I can remember growing up and watching the 20 car with Tony Stewart specifically when I was really young watching NASCAR, and then on to Joey (Logano) and then on to Matt (Kenseth), and you know, to be the next guy in that role is obviously pretty neat for me. Joe Gibbs Racing is one of the best organizations in NASCAR. I mean, there’s only a few true top teams left in the sport, and JGR is definitely one of them. It’s really cool just to be a part of that organization and that fold and that family, especially in the 20 car. That’s a car that’s had pretty close to the most history there, them and the 18. So it’s just cool to try to continue that legacy and hopefully build my own role in that seat.”
There’s a lot of fans out there looking for a new driver to get behind. What’s the best argument you can make for Dale Jr. fans to come and get behind you?
“Well, man, it’s always tough to lure fans in. It’s so different now. I can remember when I was watching NASCAR when I was younger, and there wasn’t any way to connect with the drivers away from the track, so fans just have so many more opportunities now to see what we’re doing away from the track and see what we’re interested in. I think they just have to keep up with that and see if we like the same things. I think for me, I’m a pretty regular guy. I really just like to spend time with my friends and chill out and have a good time, show up and drive race cars. It’s something that’s never really changed for me. I still like to go home to Michigan and just see all my old buddies and bring them to the racetrack on the weekends. I don’t know, it’s tough to pitch that, but I hope that they can follow along and find something in me that they can connect to.”
On that, do you have a social media strategy when it comes to ways of trying to attract fans with your personality?
“Well, I think that’s evolving. I think over the last few years, it’s become more and more important, not only to the fans but to sponsors and to our partners and everybody. Everybody wants more from that side of things. It’s a big part of our sport now. Me personally, I’ve tried to develop more of a plan over ‑‑ especially I would say even the last six months, trying to figure out exactly how to portray that and how to put that out to the world. It seems so easy. You think you just get on social media and put stuff out, but at the same time, it’s challenging in a lot of ways that you need to know the right strategy to put that out and when to do it and when not to do it. It’s kind of a fine line of making your partners happy and also promoting yourself and showing a personal side. So it’s definitely a fine line.”
If you don’t get a playoff berth will you be disappointed?
“Yeah, for sure. I think last year it was disappointing for us not to make the playoffs. I think honestly ‑‑ it didn’t ruin our year. I think we still had a good year, but it was disappointing. One of our big goals was to make the playoffs. Not being able to make it was disappointing, but for sure this year that’s a big goal of ours. I think we have to make the playoffs. There’s really no reason we shouldn’t. We’re going to have great stuff, and we’re going to have fast cars, and we have more than enough opportunity to do that.”
What have you and Chris Gayle done to teach you how to convert performances to wins?
“Yeah, I think we went over that a lot really, even throughout last year and now some in this off‑season and just kind of analyzing what exactly ‑‑ where do I need to get better, and Chris, he’ll ask me the same. He’s not just going to tell me that I need to do better. He’s going to ask me what he has to improve on and what do I need out of him, and he’s going to tell me where he feels like he made a mistake or didn’t make the right call. He’s confident enough to man up to that and own those mistakes and say that he’s learning, as well, which we were last year. We were learning together. We were two rookies in the Cup Series. I think we learned a lot. I think for me, I have a lot better idea of what exactly I need to do in these races to at least be in position to win and have more consistent finishes. I feel like last year I was really aggressive, which is fine at times, but it’s not fine for all 400 miles of a race. I think just analyzing that a little bit and learning better when it’s time to be aggressive and when it’s time to ride is something that I feel like I learned a lot of, and I think Chris is way more confident going into this year. I think he feels real comfortable at Joe Gibbs Racing. I think he’s really at home there. That’s where he was up until last year, that’s the only place he’d ever been in his NASCAR career. I think he’s really at home there and feels comfortable working with the other crew chiefs, and I think it’s going to be a good season for us.”
Has JGR given you an idea of what you’ll be running outside of the Cup Series?
“Not really. Unfortunately for myself they don’t restrict it. I can run as much as I want. But we’ve seen a lot of the mid‑week shows go away in late models over the last three years now. I think there’s only three races I could even run just with the schedule. So it’s kind of unfortunate, but at the same time, I feel like I really need to focus on my Cup career. I didn’t run many late model races last year. I think I only ran one. Beyond that, XFINITY‑wise, I don’t think I’ll be running very much. We’ve got two full‑time drivers there, one part‑time car. I know one guy is going to max out his races, and I know one guy is going to run two others, and Ryan Preece obviously has to run his races, as well. That really limits my schedule there, which is fine. I think focusing on the Cup Series is pretty important to me. But I’m sure there will be some along the way late model and XFINITY I’ll be running.”
Is it tough for you having limited other races you can run?
“Not really. I felt like last year at times it was pretty heavy schedule. I think I ran 18 XFINITY races, which was fun. It was a lot of track time and a lot of experience, but the cars drive really different. It was pretty challenging at times to go back and forth, especially when you have the XFINITY practices and the Cup qualifying at the end of the day. I think that was one of the toughest ones for me was that first round of qualifying. I don’t think it’s a bad thing not running as many, but I’d still like to run a few. There’s definitely some tracks where I feel comfortable in either car and feel like I could go back and forth easily, along with Watkins Glen. I’d love to go there and run that, as well. We’ll just have to see how it plays out with sponsorship and seats and availability, but I feel like I’ll probably be in a couple.”
Have you talked to your crew chief and acclimated to the new policy?
“Actually I’ve been talking to Chris throughout the off‑season, but we went to lunch yesterday and I was able to kind of sit down with him and talk about some more things, and that was one thing that came up. He actually hadn’t even watched it yet with the 18 guys. They’ve been working to prepare to load our car for the Las Vegas test next week. So I haven’t seen it yet in person, but I feel like I’ve talked to guys at JGR, and they feel really confident about what we’ve got. The thing is nobody really knows the right way to do it because nobody has seen everybody else do it yet. I think it seems like it’s a big secret right now in the sport with guys’ different ways of doing it and the different way of getting to
the same place with the amount of guys. So it’s been a lot of movement, though, between finding guys that are capable of doing different roles. I think a lot of guys’ roles are changing and roles are being added to, so that’s been interesting to see progress on guys on the pit crews.”
Joe Gibbs Racing has had consistency of pit crews. Do you think that’s going to benefit you with the new policy?
“You know, they’re really confident. I don’t see why not. We’ve got really good guys that are in charge to train those guys and keep them in the right ‑‑ down the right path. But you know, like I said, it’s really unknown. Until we get to Daytona and see exactly how everybody is doing it, there could be a team that’s found a different way to do it, and it’s just better. We’ve got good athletes, though, and good people, and like I said, good trainers, and they’ve done the best they can to find the optimal amount of time. They’re definitely slower. The pit stops are slower, which is going to be a big change, but I think you’ll still ‑‑ you’ll see a different evolution. I think you’ll eventually see guys getting closer and closer to that time we were at before. You’ll never get back to it, but I think you’ll see it reduced throughout the year.”
Is there anything about being able to share, being able to look at EFI data to see what other teams ‑‑
“I haven’t. That would be really interesting, but no, I haven’t heard anything about that. Is that something they’re talking about?”
We hadn’t heard, either, but Austin Dillon said something about being able to do that this year, so I figured I’d ask somebody and see if they’d heard that.
“I don’t know, maybe they have some secret code. Maybe they’ve been looking at it all along, I don’t know. I’ve never been able to do that. You know, honestly if I was to have an opinion on it, I don’t necessarily think it would be a great thing. I think before EFI, every driver had their own way of doing things, and they still do. I think every one of us is unique in some ways and some of the driving styles we have transfer to every track and we do unique things. But really now we’re able to go in and look at the EFI data. For me it was great last year obviously not having any experience, but if I was Kyle or Martin or Denny, I would be frustrated that guys were able to look at exactly what I was doing and copy it. You know, so if you open that up to every team being able to see everybody else’s stuff, I think obviously parity in our sport is low right now, which in turn doesn’t create for a lot of passing and a lot of action at times on the track when guys are all super close, so that’s just going to continue to tighten that up, which I don’t know would necessarily be a good thing.”
Are there advantages to JGR being in NC vs Furniture Row Racing in Colorado?
“Yeah, there is. There’s certain ‑‑ obviously Furniture Row gets pretty much all the information that JGR has, but there’s definitely times where we can’t make enough pieces for everybody. There’s times where you find things, and I think JGR is able to put it on because obviously with Furniture Row being in Colorado they have to leave earlier, so they’ve found things later in the week and been able to add it to their cars before Furniture Row was able to last year, which isn’t huge. It’s never anything life‑changing when we show up to the track, but it is a little bit, and it’s a little bit of pieces that add up to a little bit of time here and there. At the end of the day, though, there are different ways of running each operation. I think Furniture Row has their way, JGR has their way, and for me, I think I just know the Joe Gibbs Racing way better because it’s just where I’ve been the longest. I feel comfortable there. I know everybody really well, and just excited to be back in that role.”
Where is the fine line between going for a win and doing something dumb and wrecking cars?
“You know, it’s tough to say. I mean, yeah, there is ‑‑ as a driver you can judge your opportunity to win pretty easily, I think. You know how good of a car you’ve got. You know what kind of a shot you have to win at that day. I think if you’re restarting fifth on a green‑white‑checkered you’re going to have to really examine your opportunity. I mean, your opportunity to win at that point is pretty low. But if you’re in third or fourth, that opportunity is pretty high. You know, you have to evaluate your risks. I mean, if you’ve got a win already and you’re in the playoffs, go for it. But if you’re trying to point your way in at that point and you haven’t got that win and it’s early in the year, I think you have to sit back and take that top four or that top 5. It’s tough as a driver. You want to win every week, especially myself, I think I charge pretty hard for the win every time, and at times that puts you in a bad spot and a bad position throughout the year. But with this format it does reward that if you can get a win. It’s a fine line, but I think you have to just really weigh your odds and weigh your season where you’re at that point.”
The restarts have gotten so much more important. Do you work at those? Can you practice restarts?
“It’s very track dependent. I mean, if you’re at Texas and you’re starting fourth, you can’t ‑‑ fourth or sixth or wherever, you can’t just go to the top and make it three wide around these guys. Obviously the track is not at that point yet. But there are opportunities at other tracks. You can go to Charlotte or another worn‑out mile‑and‑a‑half and really make a lot of big moves and pick up a lot of ground and make up a lot of spots. But it is track dependent. I mean, Martinsville you’re not going to make a lot happen. It’s very dependent on the track, but yeah, there is stuff you can do to improve it, and it’s something that I thought I was always pretty good at, and then you get to the Cup Series and everybody is pretty good at it. It’s definitely tougher in the Cup Series to make a lot of spots up on restarts.”
Do you watch tape of that specifically?
“Yeah, I do. I’ll watch back what I did, if I made a mistake, watch back to see what I could have done better or when I have a good restart watch back to see exactly what happened, and then I’ll watch other guys, too, see what they do. Obviously Kyle (Busch) is really good on restarts, Kurt (Busch) is really good on restarts, (Kyle) Larson is really good on restarts. So there’s a lot of guys you can watch and see how they put themselves in those positions.”
What do you want to improve on for this year?
“I think restarts have always been all right for me. I think my biggest improvements need to come from I think green flag pit stops really are a huge spot for me to improve on. There’s a lot of time to be gained on entry and exit of pit road as well as time on pit road. So there’s so many small things there you can pick up and gain on, and I don’t feel like I extracted really everything that was there to gain from it. Just working on that and improving from there I think will pay off big at the end of the day.”
