













By Kayla Darrow – @Erik_Jones’ 2015 season just got busier.

Jones announced today that he will compete full-time in next year’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in one of Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Toyota Tundras. He is also scheduled to run multiple Xfinity Series races for Joe Gibbs Racing.

The primary sponsor on Jones’ NCWTS ride reportedly will be AutoTrader.com. His Xfinity Series sponsors reportedly will include JGR staples GameStop, Reasor’s and Toyota.

“We’ve been working hard over the past probably three months now to get this deal done and it’s finally come together to where I’ll be in the full season next year for Kyle Busch Motorports in the Truck Series as well as Joe Gibbs Racing for some Nationwide races too,” said Jones.

“Definitely an exciting year ahead for me. It’s been a long time — I felt like it was coming, but we all worked hard for it and to finally have it come together and get to run a full season in one of the NASCAR series is pretty special for me. Happy to see it all come together and really looking forward to it.”

Jones will continue to run with Ryan “Rudy” Fugle as his crew chief. Fugle acted as the crew chief during Jones’ first Camping World Truck Series win at Phoenix International Raceway in 2013. The pair are already being deemed as a threat to the championship.

“Obviously my relationship with Rudy (Fugle, crew chief, 2015) is one of the strongest I’ve ever had with a crew member of crew chief. I’ve had a great run with Eric Phillips (crew chief, 2014) this year on the box and we’ve had a lot of success and I enjoy working with Eric,” said Jones.

“Rudy was the crew chief in 2012 and this year he’s been on the team as an engineer still. We have a great relationship and definitely looking forward to working with him again as a crew chief.”

Jones has run part-time in the Camping World Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports for the past two years. In his 16 starts, Jones has racked up three wins, six top-fives and 12 top-10 finishes.

“Erik is more than ready to take the next step in his career and compete for a championship running full-time in the Truck Series next year,” said @KyleBusch, owner of Kyle Busch Motorsports.

“Towards the end of this season, he had a stretch where he was behind the wheel for five of six races on all types of tracks and each week he went out, ran up front and showcased how talented he is at such a young age.”

Jones also raced Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota Camry in the Nationwide Series at both Chicagoland Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway earlier this year. He earned a top-10 finish at both tracks.

All this experience will come in handy next year when Jones will have his first real chance to win a championship.

“This is obviously a huge step for me and my racing career in general – a step towards even having a shot at a championship really, so this is my first opportunity to go out and race for a championship in any of the three NASCAR Series, so it’s obviously one of the bigger steps I’ve taken in my career and I’m definitely looking forward to the challenge it’s going to bring.”

“Obviously it’s a new challenge, not one that I’ve had before and I’m looking forward to learning from it. I’ve got a great position at KBM and I feel like I’m in the best position I’ve been in my career. Just looking forward to it all, it’s going to be fun and I’m looking forward to chasing down a championship.”

Catch Jones in his final races of the 2014 season this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, as he competes in the truck race on Friday and Nationwide race on Saturday.

EMAIL KAYLA AT kayla.darrow@popularspeed.com

FOLLOW KAYLA ON TWITTER: @kayla_darrow