Photo – ErikJonesRacing.com
On Saturday June 8, one week after celebrating his 17th birthday, Erik Jones will be making his superspeedway début on the 2.5 mile triangular course found at Pocono (PA.) Raceway with the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.
Teaming with Venturini Motorsports, Jones will first take part in an ARCA sanctioned test on Wednesday, June 5 in hopes of gaining some valuable experience on the “Tricky Triangle”.
“I’m really looking forward to getting on a bigger race track like Pocono,” stated Jones. “The ARCA cars are fun to drive and I’m excited to be teamed up with Kevin Reed (Crew Chief) in the Venturini Motorsports car. I’ve talked to a few people about Pocono and it’s a track that is like no other. From what I have heard it’s like running three different race tracks in one, which from a driver standpoint means a lot of fun!”
Jones will be behind the wheel of the No.15 Toyota Care Venturini Motorsports Toyota Camry with Kevin Reed acting as Crew Chief. Reed, who gained a second place finish in the first race last season at Pocono followed by a win with Chad Hackenbracht in the fall race, is very confident going into the weekend’s events.
“I am looking forward to working with Erik at Pocono and a few other races this year,” proclaimed Reed. “He is one of the best teen drivers in the sport and has proven in multiple series that he is capable of winning. We have prepared a solid race car for him to make his debut in. It’s won at Chicago and Kansas.”
In addition to the Pocono ARCA 200 and his 3 remaining NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races with Kyle Busch Motorsports, Jones will appear in the Pennsylvania ARCA 125 at Pocono Raceway on August 2 as well as the Kentucky ARCA 200 at Kentucky Speedway September 20.
In his ten ARCA Racing Series starts in 2012, Jones finished a career best of third at both Winchester Speedway and Berlin Raceway. His remaining stats consisted of 4 top 5’s, 5 top 10’s and 103 laps led.
The ARCA Racing Series open test at Pocono Raceway will be held from 9:00 a.m through 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5.
Friday, June 7 starts with practice from 10:00 -11:50 a.m. followed by Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell at 2:05 p.m. The green flag drops for the Pocono ARCA 200 at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, June 8 with live coverage on SPEED, as well as live timing and scoring on ARCARacing.com.
