Erik Jones / No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota Camry Preview Gander RV 400 at Dover International Speedway

DOVER, Dela. (May 1, 2019)

No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota Camry News and Notes:

·        JONES AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY: Erik Jones will make his fifth start at The Monster Mile this weekend in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. In his previous four starts at the track, Jones best finish is fourth in the fall 2018 Cup Series event. Jones has five starts at the track in the Xfinity Series scoring one win and leading a total of 200 laps. In his lone Truck Series start at the track, Jones led 50 laps and finished in the third positon.

·        JGR AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has 130 total starts at Dover International Speedway in Cup Series competition. In those starts, the team has earned seven wins, 41 top-five finishes, 65 top-10 finishes and seven pole starting positions. The team has led 2,764 laps, completed 48,697 of 53,172 attempted laps (91.6%) and earned an average start of 12.7 and an average finish of 15.9. Four different drivers have won at the track for JGR, starting with Bobby Labonte in 1999 followed by Tony Stewart sweeping the races in 2000, Kyle Busch winning three times and Matt Kenseth earning one win at the Monster Mile while driving for JGR. 

·        THIS WEEK ON THE NO. 20 CAMRY: This week Sport Clips returns to the No. 20 Toyota Camry for the Gander RV 400 at Dover International Speedway.

·        TALLADEGA RECAP: Qualifying in the 27th position at Talladega Superspeedway, the No. 20 team had to drop to the back of the field for the initial start of the race following an unapproved adjustment on race morning. Focused on making his way to the front, Jones was able to run in the top 10 throughout the race, led four laps and bounced back from a late-race spin to cross the finish line in the 19th position.

·        RACE INFO: The Gander RV 400 at Dover International Speedway is scheduled for Sunday, May 5, 2019. Coverage will begin at 2:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1, Sirius XM Channel 90 and MRN Radio.

Jones Career NASCAR Cup Series Stats at Dover International Speedway:

Jones 2019 Season NASCAR Cup Series Stats:

Jones Career NASCAR Cup Series Stats:

From the Driver’s Seat:

Erik Jones: “This weekend will be a lot different with the new package. The whole weekend will be a learning process to relearn and adjust from what we’ve known and how we’ve performed at Dover in the past. I think the racing on Sunday will be a lot different and I’m hoping it goes back to driving like the old style from a few years ago when I ran well at the track in the Xfinity and Truck Series. It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Victory Lane at Dover, so maybe we can knock our first win of the year off the list and get Sport Clips in to Victory Lane on Sunday.”

From the Pit Box:

Chris Gayle: “The big story will be the rules changes for 2019 and how much it changes what we’ve known at Dover. The downforce level should be high enough that the speeds will be very fast for Dover. I think this will change how the cars drive considerably, and change how the drivers use lines, throttle lift points and how much on throttle time there is thru the corner. Dover is also a place that has been really tough on tires in the past, so there could be more of a premium on making sure everything lives and we don’t put ourselves in a box or too close to the durability limit for the speeds we may see this weekend. This has been a tough place for us the last few events with the lower DF package, so I think this may help us close the gap and become stronger relative to the field.”