It appears that a new home for the 2017 season has been found for NASCAR Xfinity Series standout, Erik Jones.
It was announced at Watkins Glen on Sunday that Jones will be racing in a second Furniture Row Racing (FRR) Toyota next season, along with teammate Martin Truex Jr. Jones will be in the #77 and will be sponsored primarily by 5-Hour Energy (22-race deal), whom have been with Clint Bowyer in the recent years.
Furniture Row Racing is turning the Corner, Parking in Top Tier
Furniture Row Racing debuted out of Denver, Colorado in 2005. The odds of the organization taking off and contending for championships were not the greatest, which is understandable for a team that is not camped in North Carolina. However, that is exactly where they are headed.
The team qualified for just 40 races in their first three Sprint Cup Seasons (2005-2007), lead by Kenny Wallace, Jimmy Spencer, and Travis Kvapil up until the 2008 season.
In 2008, FRR started to find their groove using plate races. They qualified two cars into the Daytona 500, then sat on the pole for the Spring Race at Talladega. During the fall race, they earned their best finish at the time, when Joe Nemechek crossed the line 11th.
The team cut back to running a partial schedule the next season and competed just 18 races with Regan Smith in 2009. They aligned with RCR in 2010, but still failed to earn a top ten until 2011. However, on May 7th, Smith gave Furniture Row its first ever top-five and of course first ever victory in an upset win in the 2011 Southern 500.
The win was one that nobody saw coming, Smith stayed out under a late caution flag and held off Carl Edwards on old tyres, and showed everybody that the team could compete.
FRR went through Kurt Busch on the way there, but ultimately landed Martin Truex Jr. to pilot the ride in 2014. Truex Jr.’s first season did not go as planned, as he only supplemented one top five finish.
It looked like the FRR team had put themselves in another hole, however that Off-Season they switched crew chiefs and allowed rookie Cole Pearn to lead the team.
The move paid off and FRR turned the corner in 2015, starting to compete for wins week after week. Truex Jr. piloted the #78 to eight Top-Five’s, the team’s second win ever, and a spot in NASCAR’s Championship Round at Homestead.
Now, the team has hired another driver, and he already has a history of contending for championships.
2015 Truck Series Champion’s Career Riddled with Success
Erik Jones’ Career so far might best be known for his 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship, but that’s not all the 20-year old Byron, Michigan native brings to the table.
Jones has won each of the past three Winchester 400s and also became the third ever back-to-back Snowball Derby winner in 2013. A year after, he became the youngest winner ever in the Truck Series in 2013 (A mark later eclipsed by Cole Custer) and also finished in the top 10 in each of his first five races.
In short, Jones knows how to get to victory lane.
His 2016 season is looking uniform to his prior success, as Jones earned his third Xfinity Series win at Iowa Speedway, two more wins than the 2nd place Xfinity Series Regular.
This means Jones is essentially locked into the Xfinity Series Playoffs this season and it is not hard to see him winning the whole thing. He will try to win a championship in the second tier, before coming to FRR in 2017 with what will be some similar, achievable goals.
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