NASCAR Cup Series

Erik Jones gets sponsor for part-time Xfinity Series schedule with JGR

Published Jan. 26, 2015 11:04 a.m. ET

foxsports

Joe Gibbs Racing announced Monday that longtime partner GameStop will sponsor Erik Jones for 10 races in the No. 20 JGR Toyota Camry in the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. This season will mark GameStop's eighth with JGR.

Matt Kenseth drove the No. 20 GameStop Toyota in 2013 and 2014, finishing his two-year stint with a win in last year's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Kenseth hands the reins over to 18-year-old Jones, whose first race in the seat will be the Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona.

Jones, who joined fellow driver Kyle Busch in taking Kyle Busch Motorsports' No. 51 team to the 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title, is running a fulltime truck schedule in 2015 for KBM, in addition to his part-time Xfinity Series duties with JGR.

"As a gamer, I've always followed the cars GameStop puts on the track each year," Jones said. "It's so cool that they change their paint scheme for every race, and they've featured many of my favorite games. It's exciting to have the opportunity to combine my love for gaming with my career as a NASCAR driver. I know we'll be competitive each week with the GameStop Toyota, and I'm confident we'll be able to get us a win, or a few, this season."

The 2015 season will actually mark the second season that Jones has appeared for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series. The Byron, Mich.-native wheeled the No. 20 Toyota in three races in 2014, and represented GameStop at Phoenix International Raceway in November where he started third and finished sixth. Jones' three Xfinity starts in 2014 earned him an average start of 4.3 and average finish of 7.0.

"We're thrilled to have Erik Jones back in the No. 20 Camry this season in the Xfinity Series," said J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing. "Erik is a great addition to our program and will be a great representative of GameStop."

Mike Wheeler will call the shots for the No. 20 GameStop Camry team this year when he will serve as a crew chief for the first time. Wheeler has been with JGR since December 2002 and had been the race engineer on Denny Hamlin's No. 11 Sprint Cup team since the team's formation in 2005.