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 As usual, Jones took the success in youthful stride.
"It's really cool to win two races in two states on the same
weekend," said the 19-year-old of his victories at the Iowa Speedway
and Chicagoland Speedway.
The question remains -- where will Jones race in the Sprint Cup and
when?
Thus far, Jones has driven for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck
Series, where he has five career victories and five poles in 26
starts, and for Joe Gibbs Racing in Xfinity, where he now has scored
two wins and four poles in 16 starts.
Those are very heady statistics for a driver at any age. As a
result, Jones' arrival in Victory Lane in the Sprint Cup has been
already ordained by some observers.
But consider the case of Joey Logano, a former rising star for JGR
and Toyota.
He began his fulltime Sprint Cup career at age 19 -- within nine
months after meeting NASCAR's minimum age of 18.
In his first season, "Sliced Bread" won a rain-shortened race in New
Hampshire, but then won just one more race in the following three
seasons. Since moving to the Fords of Penske Racing in 2013, the
young man from Connecticut has blossomed into a major star -- much
to Toyota's chagrin -- including a win at this year's Daytona 500.
Was Logano brought into the Sprint Cup too early and is that having
an effect on the mapping of Jones' career by JGR and Toyota?
Dave Wilson, the president and general manager of Toyota Racing
Development USA, has said he wants Jones to concentrate on winning a
championship in the Truck Series this year. He wants the young man
from Byron, Mich., to learn how to win a title over the course of an
entire season.
Despite his Iowa victory and four other Top 5 finishes, Jones
currently trails Matt Crafton by 26 points after nine of 22 races.
When it comes to the Sprint Cup, Jones substituted for Kyle Busch in
the JGR Toyota earlier this year at the Kansas Speedway. The debut
did not go well. He led a lap but a solo spin damaged his Camry.
Logano's experience remains a cautionary tale, in part because his
extraordinary talent is now apparent. In retrospect, his youth
worked against Logano among the established stars of the Sprint Cup,
who are a very unique group.
The current NASCAR stars arrived and raced through the tragic era of
fatalities when stock car racing lost five drivers during the span
of 18 months in 2000 and 2001.
Since then, the current generation of drivers benefited from
increased safety thanks to Head Restraints, SAFER barriers and the
Car of Tomorrow. They also benefited from a new pay structure
brought on by the $2.4 billion TV contracts signed with three
networks that was launched in 2001.
The combination of concern about safety and the millions to be
earned during long careers meant that overly aggressive driving was
frowned on. Indeed, Matt Kenseth won the championship in 2003 with
just one victory.
Even Jeff Gordon became more conservative. In his first eight
seasons through 2001, he led an average of 1,100 laps per season. In
six out of eight seasons, he led more than 1,000 laps.
In the years since then, Gordon has averaged 895 laps led and he's
been over 1,000 laps only four times in 13 seasons.
After winning four championships through 2001, Gordon has not
claimed one since then.
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Logano came along in 2008 and was considered the most talented
driver to break into the Sprint Cup since Gordon, Tony Stewart and
Jimmie Johnson. Yet, when he made moves the veterans didn't like,
his nose was figuratively bloodied on the track and the veterans
called him out after the race was over.
The young man was often dumbfounded and hapless when it came to
dealing with the veterans. He didn't seem to grasp where the line
was on aggression. Ultimately, that led to the loss of confidence by
the driver, his team and Home Depot sponsor.
He was replaced by Kenseth in 2013 and moved to Penske.
At Penske, Logano found a running mate in Brad Keselowski who
understood how to go toe-to-toe with the veterans without giving any
quarter. Keselowski's run-ins with various drivers in the Xfinity
and Sprint Cup events could be summed up with the dramatic finish at
the Talladega Superspeedway in 2009, where he beat Carl Edwards to
the finish line and Edwards' Ford ended up in the fence -- and
almost over it.
At Penske, Keselowski took Logano under his wing and the latter's
confidence has returned. Last season, after advancing in the Chase
with a win at Talladega, Keselowski explained from his point of view
how veteran drivers had sought to regulate up-and-coming drivers.
"Look at the drivers that came through my era," said Keselowski. "I
came into this sport, my first win here was in 2009 and my first
full season was in 2010.
"Besides my teammate, Joey Logano, what other drivers came from that
era and are successful? There isn't one. There is not one that came
through those four or five years and that's for good reason. They've
been run out of this sport and I'm not gonna let that happen (to
us)."
In one respect, Jones is already running into a brigade of veterans
that may stymie his progress.
JGR, where he has a development contract, has all its driver slots
filled with veteran race winners. Except for Kyle Busch, who missed
the season's first 11 races with injuries, Denny Hamlin, Kenseth and
Edwards have all qualified for this year's Chase and there's little
expectation for them to be moving on.
TRD's Wilson has vowed that Toyota will not lose another young star,
adding that next year's schedule for Jones is already on the drawing
board. That means Jones will either drive in the Sprint Cup for
another Toyota team -- Rob Kauffman of Michael Waltrip Racing has
made a standing offer -- or he'll spend next season trying to win a
championship in the Xfinity Series.
It would be nice to see Jones enter the Sprint Cup next year in the
same season as Chase Elliott and perhaps Ty Dillon. Two's company,
but three bright young rookies would be a good crowd of much needed
youth.
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