Up and coming NASCAR competitor Erik Jones has announced he will return to his roots and will be racing with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance at Owosso Speedway on Saturday, September 10th. Owosso Speedway is were Jones, from nearby Byron, Michigan, began his racing career, even winning a Pro Stock Feature at that track when he was just 13 years old.
Jones is also returning to compete with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour, were at the age of 15 he was the series inaugural Champion in 2011. During that Championship Season, Jones went to victory lane twice, once at Rockford Speedway and the second in front of his hometown fans at Owosso Speedway were he took the lead from Josh Nelms on lap 83 and held off Nelms and Chad Finley to get the crowd pleasing victory.
“I’m really looking forward to racing a crate car again in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour, “remarked Jones. “It’s been a few years since I’ve raced with them, and what a better place to do it than Owosso Speedway. I can’t wait to get back and race at the same track I began my stock car racing career at!”
Jones’s accomplishments since that 2011 season have been astounding. After victories in the ARCA Racing Series, Jones moved to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports, after beating Busch to win the famed Snowball Derby Super Late Model event at Five Flags Speedway. Jones was crowned the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion at the end of last season. Jones is racing full-time with the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season for Joe Gibbs Racing, where he is sixth in points and leading the series with three wins so far this season.
He sits first in the NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase Grid.
On August 6th Furniture Row Racing announced that they will have a second NASCAR Sprint Cup Team in 2017 with Jones behind the wheel. Furniture Row Racing has an affiliation with Joe Gibbs Racing which will grow even stronger in 2017 with Jones driving the #77 5 Hour Energy Toyota Camry.
Jones has continued to race in CRA events when he has an opportunity, finding a lot of continued success doing that. Jones won his third consecutive Winchester 400 last year and with that win he also claimed the JEGS/CRA $100,000 Super Late Model Triple Crown.
This season Jones has been behind the wheel of the KBR Racing Development Toyota in three ARCA/CRA Super Series events, getting wins in the Battle at Berlin 251 at Berlin Raceway and the Circle City 100 at Lucas Oil Raceway as well as getting a second place finish in the series last event at Kalamazoo Speedway.
The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour events at Owosso Speedway are always exciting with plenty of passing and side by side racing action with the tracks progressive banking. A full field of cars is expected with 24 entries already entered for that event to date.
More event and track information can be found at www.owossospeedway.com. More information on the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance is available at www.cra-racing.com.
Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.
