Erik Jones/No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota Camry Preview Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

(Feb. 28, 2018)

No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota Camry News and Notes:

·        JONES AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY:  Erik Jones will make his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend behind the wheel of the No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota Camry. In his only other MENCS start at the 1.5-mile track, Jones started the race from the eighth position and crossed the finish line in 15th place. Jones does have success at the track with top-five finishes in both the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS), including a NCWTS win in 2014.

·        JGR AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has 56 total starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Cup Series competition earning two wins, 13 top-five finishes, 24 top-10 finishes and four pole starting positions. The team has led 511 laps, completed 13,806 of 14,777 attempted laps (93.4%) and earned an average start of 14.4 and an average finish of 15.5. Kyle Busch earned the team’s first win in 2009 with Matt Kenseth earning the second win in 2013.  

·        ATLANTA RECAP: For the first 1.5-mile track of the season, Jones and the No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry team qualified in the 10th position for the Folds of Honor Quick Trip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Following a rain delay on Sunday morning, the race got underway. Jones struggled with the handling of the No. 20 Toyota early in the race, but the team stayed focused and continued to work on the DEWALT Camry throughout the entire race. At the end of the 325-lap event, Jones crossed the finish line in the 11th position. 

·        THIS WEEK ON THE NO. 20 CAMRY: For this weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the No. 20 Toyota Camry will carry the Sport Clips colors for their first race of the year. A long standing partner of JGR, Sport Clips first sponsored Jones in 2015 in the XFINITY Series and continued their relationship with Jones as he made his move to the Cup Series in 2017. With Jones return to JGR, Sport Clips continues their partnership with Jones and will now serve as a primary sponsor on the No. 20 Toyota Camry throughout the 2018 season.

·        HELP A HERO: In 2017, Sport Clips completed its 11th year of supporting U.S. service members through the Help A Hero program. As an Air Force veteran, Sport Clips Founder and CEO Gordon Logan believes in giving back to those who serve and has made that a primary focus for Sport Clips as well. In 2017 alone, the Help A Hero program collected a record-breaking $1.25 million, surpassing the set goal of $1 million. To date, the program has awarded 943 scholarships to veterans and service members, totaling $4.1 million, a number that will increase in the coming months as the fall 2018 scholarships are awarded. The scholarships provide financial support of up to $5,000 for tuition. In addition, the program has donated almost $6 million to VFW since 2007. To learn more about Help A Hero and the scholarship program, visit SportClips.com/Hero.  

·        RACE INFO: The Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is scheduled for Sunday, March 4, 2018. Coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, Sirius XM Channel 90 and PRN Radio.

Jones Career NASCAR Cup Series Stats at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:

Jones 2018 Season NASCAR Cup Series Stats:

Jones Career NASCAR Cup Series Stats:

From the Driver’s Seat:

Erik Jones: “Coming out of Atlanta, I think we are in good shape heading to Las Vegas this weekend. We definitely learned some things in Atlanta and had a good test a few weeks ago in Las Vegas before the season started. Vegas is a fast track and it’s a lot of fun. I was fortunate to get a truck win at the track early in my career in 2014, and I’d love to add to the win column at the track. Add to it that Vegas is a cool city and it makes for a good place to start the West Coast swing.”

From the Pit Box:

Chris Gayle: “This is a track that we're all looking forward to racing. It's a fast race track that I believe fits Erik's aggressive driving style well, and it showed in how well he qualified and raced in his first cup start there last season. The 20 team also tested there in the off-season. We feel like we have a really good baseline from that test that should help us be fast when we unload this weekend.”