Most NASCAR fans were not overly familiar with an 18-year-old kid from Byron, Michigan named Erik Jones before the 2015 NASCAR season, but they are now.

 

Although Jones did post three wins in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series last season and with a recent NASCAR XFINITY Series win at Texas Motor Speedway, I really can’t image that anybody would have seen the tremendous leap he has taken in becoming the potential face of Joe Gibbs Racing’s future

 

Which brings up a question in itself? What does Joe Gibbs Racing/JGR do with a young man as talented as Jones, when the team has four seats filled up with stars in the Sprint Cup Series?

 

Let’s first look into the past of Jones and how he became one of the bigger, younger stars in NASCAR today.

 

Upon researching Erik Jones’ past I was utterly surprised to find out that Erik, and myself grew up roughly an hour away from each other in central Michigan. It is more of a rarity to hear about a driver coming from the Midwestern region so I always find intrigue in learning about their past.

 

Jones began racing stock cars at the age of 13, and at 14 became the youngest winner in American Speed Association history by two years. A couple of years later, he broke his silence to the racing world when he won the Snowball Derby in Pensacola, Florida by beating NASCAR sensation Kyle Busch.

 

2013 then saw Erik Jones become the youngest winner in Camping World Truck Series history at 17 years of age with his win at Phoenix International Raceway. Adding three more victories last season at Iowa Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and defended his victory at Phoenix.

 

With that success, Jones set himself up to run a full schedule in the Camping World Truck Series and a number of NASCAR XFINITY Series races for the 2015 season. Already putting up some pretty incredible stats and numbers before this year, this season has seen Jones go to an élite level.

 

The past four races of the NASCAR XFINITY Series has seen Jones post and keep up a top-five finish streak.

 

That streak includes what he was able to carry out a week and a half ago, which saw him win his first XFINITY Series race by beating Brad Keselowski, a Sprint Cup Series champion and Dale Earnhardt Jr., a 23 race winner in the Sprint Cup himself, at Texas Motor Speedway.

 

Jones also has been phenomenal in qualifying. He has won three straight poles at Fontana, Texas and Bristol Motor Speedway, which is also another unprecedented stat for an 18 year-old in any series.

 

His skills were really tested last weekend at Bristol, when Joe Gibbs put Jones in a Sprint Cup Series car for the first time when asked to fill in for Denny Hamlin with very limited notice.

Hamlin, who was not able to compete due to neck spasms, was running in the top-five before the rain delay hit. Due to the driver change, officials penalized the No. 11 team and Jones restarted in 37th-place. .

I’m not sure there are words to express the difficulty of that situation. Jones had never raced a Sprint Cup Series car before which are much faster and are very different to drive than XFINITY Series cars.

The car balance was also setup to Hamlin’s specificatons as each driver has a certain feel about balance with how they drive a race car. What Hamlin likes, is most likely very different to what Jones likes.

Physically the car was also setup for Hamlin in terms of the driver’s seat and steering wheel, which was definitely uncomfortable for Jones. Noting all the obstacles, Jones was able to secure a top-30 finish on one of the toughest tracks in the Sprint Cup Series circuit, finishing in 26th-place.

Really no words describe the phenomenal talent he exhibited on Sunday.

So that brings us back to the question, what does JGR do with such a young, fast rising talent? With four seats being filled by guys who all have at least 23 Sprint Cup Series wins a piece to their name, where does Jones fit in?

It really is a question that many NASCAR teams are going to have to face the next couple years with this young talent crop being so absolutely superb and large. There are so many young phenom talents with the ability to run in the Sprint Cup Series and to run well. That being said, there are now guys in the Sprint Cup Series such as Kevin Harvick, 39 years old, who are in the prime of their careers.

So what does a team owner do?

I don’t see them throwing a guy like that to the curb in search of young talent. But there are a couple of situations I could see happen.

The first being a decrease of Sprint Cup drivers in the XFINITY Series. Although I think there will always be some sort of involvement from the Sprint Cup regulars in some capacity, I think we might see a decrease in some of that participation, making room in the XFINITY Series for young talented drivers. I understand it is essential to have Sprint Cup regulars compete in the XFINITY Series with the amount of sponsors they bring to that level of the sport..

Companies can put their brand next to a Sprint Cup regular such as Earnhardt Jr. for much less than the cost compared to sponsoring him in the Sprint Cup Series. Those drivers also love to race in those lower series being the competitors that they are. Guys like Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch, who own race teams competing in the XFINITY Series, are guys who take advantage of racing in as many opportunities as they can.

Why shouldn’t they? I’m in disagreement with most and I say they’ve earned that right to run as many XFINITY Series races as they want.

But what is intriguing with all this young talent is, companies will want to put their name with a young upcoming star in hopes of securing him for a good part of his career. Then race teams will let the younger guys compete and develop their driving skills in the XFINITY Series because it’s now their talent allowing them to secure that sponsorship.

The XFINITY Series then becomes more of a minor league feel, and becomes more suitable to have some of these younger guys see longer careers in the XFINITY Series.

Another thing I could see is NASCAR increasing the number of cars a race team can field in a Sprint Cup Series race. Right now the limit is four, with an occasional fifth being permitted to younger non regular Sprint Cup Series drivers. I would not be surprised to see NASCAR increase the number of cars a team can field, and see a team like Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing or another bigger team add a fifth car to their team.

In my opinion, that would stretch the ‘power teams’ resources out tremendously making it a more level playing field. But they would be making that much more money in fielding that fifth car, creating a win-win scenario for teams and drivers.

I might be far-fetched in expressing these ideas but in reality Joe Gibbs cannot afford to lose a guy like Erik Jones in the future. Even if Erik Jones stays in the XFINITY Series the next couple years, there will come a time JGR will face the difficult task of deciding whether to let the young talent go or to let one of his Sprint Cup stars walk.

Matt Kenseth, 43, has no interest in retiring and obviously is still capable of winning races, with his most recent victory at Bristol this weekend. Hamlin, a runner-up finisher in the Sprint Cup Series championship in 2010, also is able to win races, with his most recent win at Martinsville this season. Carl Edwards has a long-term deal (through 2017) and has secured big name sponsors such as ARRIS, Stanley and Subway, so I don’t see him changing teams any time soon.

Edwards is also a former runner-up in the series (2008 and 2011). Kyle Busch is maybe the most talented driver in the series and is only 29-years-old, so it would be foolish to let him go as well.

Erik Jones deserves a Sprint Cup Series ride and deserves one in the next couple years. The same is true for multiple young drivers – so if a race team is looking to lock up one of these stars, but the team is already stacked with talent,  the question remains – how will this sport evolve over the next couple of years.