Furniture Row Racing’s Erik Jones is focused on closing out his successful NASCAR Cup Series rookie season in the No. 77 5-hour ENERGY Toyota on a high note in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The 21-year-old from Byron, Mich., has earned five top-five and 14 top-10 finishes after 35 races in his rookie campaign, including a fourth-place finish last Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.Jones is 18th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with 847 points after 35 races, trailing Joey Logano for 17th place by 47 points (894) and ahead of Clint Bowyer in 19th by two points (845) and Daniel Suarez in 20th place by 73 points (774).
“The 5-hour ENERGY Toyota team has come a long way this season so I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish,” said Jones. “We ran well and had top-10 finishes the past two weeks at Texas and Phoenix so our goal is to finish out the season with another strong run at Homestead.”
In three starts on Homestead-Miami Speedway’s 1.5-mile oval, Jones has earned one top-five (third in the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series) and two other top-10 finishes (sixth in the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and ninth in the 2016 XFINITY Series). He also has qualified third, fifth, and seventh in those three races. He was crowned the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion there in 2015 and came up just short in last year’s NASCAR XFINITY Series championship.
“I have good memories from Homestead despite not being able to win the XFINITY Series championship last season,” said Jones. “Winning the Truck Series championship there in 2015 was a very special time. Getting our first Cup Series win and possibly winning rookie-of-the-year honors would be a great way to wrap this year up.”
Jones leads the 2017 Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings with 269 points, 14 ahead of Suarez (255) and 77 ahead of Ty Dillon (192).
The 267-lap, 400-mile Ford EcoBoost 400 will consist of three stages of 80/80/107 laps (80/160/267). Sunday’s race will air live beginning at 12:30 p.m. MT (2:30 p.m. ET) on NBC, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and MRN. Qualifying (multi-car, three rounds) is scheduled for Friday at 4:15 a.m. MT (6:15 p.m. ET) on NBCSN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and MRN.
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