Early career and short track racing Late Model that he won with at the
La Crosse Jones began his racing career at the age of seven, in
quarter-midget racing; he began racing stock cars at age 13, and began competing in the
ASA Late Model Series in 2010, becoming the youngest-ever winner of the Oktoberfest race at
LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway. Moving to the
Champion Racing Association's
CRA All-Star Tour in 2011, he won the series championship in his rookie year; Jones also was the winner of that year's
Governor's Cup 200 late model race at
New Smyrna Speedway, leading every lap of the event; he was the first driver not born in the state of
Florida to achieve that feat in over thirty years. In December 2012, Jones held off
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver
Kyle Busch to win the prestigious
Snowball Derby. In December 2013, Jones was named the winner of the 2013 Snowball Derby after the original winner,
Chase Elliott, was disqualified after post-race inspections revealed a piece of tungsten in his car.
ARCA Racing Series 2012 Jones moved to the
ARCA Racing Series for the 2012 season,
2013 In 2013 Jones picked up his first
ARCA Racing Series win at
Berlin Raceway after dominating the whole race.
NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series 2013 In March 2013,
Kyle Busch Motorsports announced that it had signed Jones to drive in five age-eligible
Camping World Truck Series races in the team's No. 51
Toyota Tundra, driving at
Martinsville Speedway,
Rockingham Speedway, and
Iowa Speedway, as NASCAR relaxed the "Kyle Busch Rule" in that series where the minimum age was reduced from eighteen to sixteen at ovals shorter than 2,000 meters and road courses. Jones finished second in his third career start in the series at Iowa. In October, Jones added another prestigious late model trophy to his collection, winning the
Winchester 400. On November 8, 2013, Jones became the youngest driver ever to win in the history of NASCAR's top-level competition to that time, winning the
Lucas Oil 150 at
Phoenix International Raceway over
Ross Chastain at the age of seventeen years, five months and eight days.
2014 In January 2014, it was announced that Jones would return to KBM in the Truck Series for 2014, competing in all age-eligible events and selected longer track events after he turned eighteen. On July 11, 2014, at
Iowa Speedway, Jones dueled
Ryan Blaney and ultimately held him off for the win. On September 13, 2014, at
Chicagoland Speedway, Jones qualified for Kyle Busch, who would later go on and win the race. On September 27, 2014, Jones won at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway for his first longer track win. On November 7, 2014, Jones picked up his fourth career Truck Series win under the red flag at Phoenix, due to a power outage.
2015 On November 6, 2014, it was announced that Jones would run the full 2015 season in the Trucks for KBM, his first age-eligible season racing for a championship, as well as running an increased slate of races for
Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series. In 2015, Jones started his season strong with a 2nd place finish at
Daytona International Speedway. At Kansas Speedway, Jones would pick up his first pole of the season. In June, Jones would qualify well, winning pole position at
Texas Motor Speedway,
Gateway Motorsports Park, and Iowa Speedway. In the same race at Iowa, Jones would score his first win of the 2015 season. In August, Jones would win the pole for the
Pocono Mountains 150 at
Pocono Raceway. In the same month, Jones would score his second win of the season at
Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, gaining the points lead for the first time in his career after
Tyler Reddick, the points leader entering the race, got into a wreck. After a string of top-ten finishes, Jones picked up win number three on the season at
Texas Motor Speedway, extending his point lead over Crafton. Jones battled with defending champion
Matt Crafton and Reddick during the 2015 season and beat them to win the Championship.
2016 In 2016, Jones would return to KBM to run a single race at Gateway Motorsports Park. Jones would end up finishing fifth after starting the race in sixth.
2018 Jones would again return to KBM for a single race in 2018, this time racing at Pocono Raceway. He would finish in second place behind his teammate and truck owner,
Kyle Busch.
2020 In 2020, Jones joined a partnership between
Wauters Motorsports and former team owners
James Finch and
Billy Ballew to run the Truck race at
Homestead–Miami Speedway. The effort was spurred by a bounty from
Kevin Harvick and
Marcus Lemonis for full-time Cup drivers who could beat Busch in a Truck race. The
COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the plan shifting to
Charlotte Motor Speedway, but Jones was excluded from the forty-truck field as the No. 5 had no points in the owner's standings.
Xfinity Series 2014 On June 19, 2014,
Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Jones will run three races with the team's No. 20 in the
Nationwide Series after he became age-eligible. Jones would make his Nationwide Series debut a month later in the
EnjoyIllinois.com 300 at Chicagoland Speedway. He would finish in the top ten in all three races.
2015 In 2015, Jones ran 25 races in the renamed Xfinity Series, splitting the No. 20 and No. 54 Toyotas for JGR. On April 10, 2015, Jones won his first Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in the No. 20. Later in the year, Jones completed a weekend sweep, winning at Iowa in the Truck Series for the first time in 2015 and at Chicagoland in the Xfinity Series in the No. 54, battling Ryan Blaney for his second career Xfinity Series win.
2016 Jones started racing full-time in the Xfinity Series for JGR in 2016, driving the No. 20. Jones won his first race of the season at Bristol in April, holding off
Kyle Larson and
Kyle Busch on a late restart. He also won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus by being the highest-finishing Xfinity Series regular out of the four who qualified through the heat races. Jones won for the second time in 2016 at Dover in May, again winning the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus. Jones then set the fastest time in qualifying for the
Hisense 4K TV 300, winning the ninth straight pole for JGR. At Iowa in July, Jones scored his third win of the season, leading the most laps and passing
Ty Dillon for the lead with fifteen laps to go. Jones won for the fourth time at Chicagoland in September, taking the lead with ten laps to go. With this win, Jones entered the Chase as the number one seed. Jones advanced through the Chase to the championship round at Homestead, where he would finish fourth in points behind
Daniel Suárez,
Elliott Sadler, and
Justin Allgaier.
2017 In 2017, as he began racing full-time in the Cup Series, Jones run a part-time Xfinity schedule. In April, he won back-to-back races at Texas and Bristol. In June, Jones joined
Fox NASCAR Cup drivers-only coverage of the Xfinity race at Pocono, working as a pit reporter alongside
Ryan Blaney and
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 2019 Jones drove the
XCI Racing No. 81 Toyota at the
2019 Food City 300 at Bristol, where he finished 37th after being involved in a multi-car pileup with
Christopher Bell,
Cole Custer, and
Joey Logano.
2021 On August 2, 2021, it was announced that Jones would return to the Xfinity Series to run
the race at
Watkins Glen in the No. 31 for
Jordan Anderson Racing. This was his first start in the series since leaving JGR and Toyota. He eventually crashed out of this race.
Cup Series 2015 . Jones unofficially debuted in the
Sprint Cup Series during the
2015 Food City 500, when he relieved
Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 due to Hamlin's neck spasms. After taking over the car, which had been in fifth, he dropped to 37th for the restart, and despite falling to the point where he was two laps down, Jones managed to finish the race in 26th. Since Hamlin started the race, he was credited with the 26th-place finish. It was then announced that he would drive the No. 18 Toyota Camry for
Kyle Busch, who was recovering from a leg injury, at Kansas. In his official debut, Jones qualified twelfth and ran as high as first before crashing while running fourth. Jones ended up finishing 40th, 25 laps down. Jones made his first career "triple duty" by running all three national series at the November Texas and Phoenix races. On November 4, he was announced as the driver of JGR's No. 20 car following the suspension of
Matt Kenseth for his incident with
Joey Logano at the
Martinsville race the previous week. Jones finished twelfth after blowing a tire late at
Texas Motor Speedway. He drove the car again at
Phoenix International Raceway to a nineteenth-place finish.
2017 in
2017 For 2016, he originally planned to drive several races with JGR's fifth car. However, due to the charter system, which limits an owner to just four cars without any exception for rookie drivers, his Cup plans were put on hold. On August 7, 2016, it was announced that Jones had signed a deal with
Furniture Row Racing to drive in their new No. 77 car sponsored by
5-hour Energy,
SiriusXM, and
GameStop for the
2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. On August 19, 2017, Jones dominated at Bristol, winning his first Cup Series pole and dominating early, but lost the lead late in the race to Kyle Busch, who would go on to win while Jones finished second. Jones led 260 laps in the race after leading only fifty in his 26 prior starts in the series.
2018 in
2018 On July 11, 2017, it was announced that Jones would make the long-anticipated move to the JGR No. 20 car full-time in 2018, replacing Kenseth. This coincided with Furniture Row Racing's announcement that they would shut down the No. 77 team to focus on the No. 78 team with
Martin Truex Jr., who would go on to win the 2017 MENCS Championship. On July 7, 2018, Jones captured his first career Cup Series win at the
2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at
Daytona International Speedway after going into overtime second alongside Truex Jr. but got a big push from
Chris Buescher and held off Truex Jr. on the final lap. This win secured him in the Playoffs, but was eliminated in the Round of 16 after disastrous finishes at
Las Vegas and
the Charlotte Roval. Jones finished the season fifteenth in points.
2019 in
2019 On September 2, 2019, Jones scored his second career Cup Series win at
Darlington, securing him in the 2019 Playoffs. Four days later, he confirmed that he signed a contract extension with JGR to drive the No. 20 in 2020. Heading into the playoffs, Jones started 26th at
Las Vegas, and worked his way up to the top 10 by the end of Stage 1. During the race, Jones reported that his throttle was stuck and that he had to go behind the wall. He returned to the track sixteen laps down. Jones ultimately finished 36th, 26 points from the cutoff line. At
Richmond, Jones ran in the top-ten in the latter part of the night and was able to finish fourth, but was disqualified when his car was discovered to have a rear-wheel alignment issue during post-race inspection. He left Richmond 45 points down from the cutoff line. Jones was in a must-win situation heading to the
Charlotte Roval. However, coming to a restart, Jones was involved in a multi-car incident heading into turn 1. The damage was significant enough to puncture his radiator and eliminate him from the Round of 16.
2020 Jones kicked off
2020 by winning the
Busch Clash; despite being involved in three accidents towards the end of the race, further wrecks on the field led to multiple overtime attempts. In the third overtime, Jones received a push from Hamlin on the final lap to win. In August 2020, after fellow Toyota team
Leavine Family Racing announced the sale of their team, it was announced that JGR would be parting ways with Jones at season's end, ending a long-time relationship that dated back to 2012. Jones would end up missing the playoffs after being involved in a wreck at Daytona, a race he would need to win to lock himself in. Jones would go winless for the first time since his rookie season in 2017 and finish seventeenth in points.
2021 in 2021 On October 21, 2020, Jones was confirmed to drive the
Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 entry in 2021, replacing
Bubba Wallace. Jones ended the season 24th in the point standings.
2022 in 2022 On August 22, 2021, it was revealed that Jones would remain in the No. 43 for the 2022 season as he will be sponsored by FocusFactor in 26 races. RPM was eventually purchased by GMS Racing to form
Petty GMS, and Jones was joined by
Ty Dillon as teammate. At
Fontana, Jones scored his first top-five since 2020 by finishing third. Prior to the
Pocono race, the No. 43 was docked 35 driver and owner points for an L1 penalty when the pre-race inspection revealed issues on the car's rocker box vent hole. Despite not making the playoffs, Jones won at
Darlington, giving Petty GMS its first win. In addition, he gave the No. 43 its first win since 2014 and its overall 200th win. Jones ended the season eighteenth in the points standings.
2023 in 2023 Jones started the
2023 season with hard rock band
Guns N' Roses sponsoring the No. 43 for the
2023 Daytona 500, where he finished 37th after wrecking out early. At
Talladega, Jones earned his third consecutive sixth place finish at the track (he finished sixth in both races in 2022), and claim his second top-ten of the season. On June 7, following the
Gateway race, NASCAR gave the No. 43 an L1 penalty after a post-race inspection revealed illegal modifications to the car's greenhouse. As a result, the team was docked 60 driver and owner points and five playoff points. In addition, crew chief Dave Elenz was fined 75,000 and suspended for two races. After a 32nd place finish at
Sonoma, Jones finished sixteenth or better in the next five consecutive races, including an eighth place finish at
Nashville and a 9th place finish at
Pocono. Jones earned his fifth top-ten of the season at
Michigan, finishing tenth. At
Kansas, Jones started on the front row for an overtime restart after a two-tire gamble. After battling
Joey Logano for the lead,
Tyler Reddick passed them both coming to the white flag. Jones ultimately finished third, his first top-five since his victory at the
2022 Cook Out Southern 500 and his seventh top-ten of the season. Additionally, this was LMC’s first top-five finish as an organization. Jones ended the season 27th in the points standings, with seven top-tens and one top-five. 's Erik Jones is introduced at the
2024 Daytona 500 in 2025.
2024 Jones started the
2024 Season with an eighth-place finish in the
Daytona 500. During the
GEICO 500 at
Talladega, on lap 156, Jones hit the wall hard in a four-car wreck. Jones was complaining about his back but managed to get out of the car on his own. He was released from the infield care center, but a couple of hours later, he returned to the care center, where it was decided to take him to the hospital for further evaluation. Jones later announced that he had suffered a compression fracture in a lower vertebra and would miss
Dover.
Corey Heim will be the substitute driver until he recovered. On May 2, it was announced that Jones was cleared to race but would not drive at
Kansas instead would return to racing at
Darlington. As Legacy Motor Club struggled to grind out results, Jones once again only managed one top-five finish with fifth place at the fall
Talladega race and ended up 28th in the points standings. Results during the year had become so dire that Jones's crew chief Dave Elenz was replaced by Ben Benshore, the crew chief of teammate
John Hunter Nemechek, for the final five weekends. Despite this, the Michigander extended his contract at Legacy, penning a multi-year deal.
2025 Jones started the
2025 season with a twelfth place finish at the
2025 Daytona 500. Following the
spring Martinsville race, he was disqualified after the car failed to meet the minimum weight requirements. After failing to make the playoffs, he scored two consecutive top-five finishes at
Daytona and at the
Darlington. He finished twenty-fourth in the points.
2026 in 2026 Jones started the
2026 season with a twenty-first place finish at the
2026 Daytona 500. At
Texas, Jones won his first career stage. ==Personal life==