Background and career
Erik Benjamin Jones (born May 30, 1996) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. His nicknames are EJ, his initials, and That Jones Boy, given to him by announcer Ken Squier. Until 2021, Jones had spent his entire NASCAR and ARCA career with Toyota, and while in their driver development program, he won the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. He would return to Toyota's NASCAR program in 2024 when Legacy Motor Club would switch their manufactural allegiance to them.
Jones began his racing career at the age of seven, in quarter-midget racing; he began racing stock cars at age 13, and began competing in the ASA Late Model Series in 2010, becoming the youngest-ever winner of the Oktoberfest race at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway. Moving to the Champion Racing Association's CRA All-Star Tour in 2011, he won the series championship in his rookie year; Jones also was the winner of that year's Governor's Cup 200 late model race at New Smyrna Speedway, leading every lap of the event; he was the first driver not born in the state of Florida to achieve that feat in over thirty years. In December 2012, Jones held off NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch to win the prestigious Snowball Derby. In December 2013, Jones was named the winner of the 2013 Snowball Derby after the original winner, Chase Elliott, was disqualified after post-race inspections revealed a piece of tungsten in his car.
Jones moved to the ARCA Racing Series for the 2012 season, becoming the first-ever driver to compete in the series at the age of fifteen; competing in ten of the series' nineteen races (he was not eligible at tracks longer than one mile), he posted a best finish of third at Winchester Speedway and Berlin Raceway.
In 2013, Jones picked up his first ARCA Racing Series win at Berlin Raceway after dominating the whole race.
In March 2013, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced that it had signed Jones to drive in five age-eligible Camping World Truck Series races in the team's No. 51 Toyota Tundra, driving at Martinsville Speedway, Rockingham Speedway, and Iowa Speedway, as NASCAR relaxed the "Kyle Busch Rule" in that series where the minimum age was reduced from eighteen to sixteen at ovals shorter than 2,000 meters and road courses. Jones finished second in his third career start in the series at Iowa. In October, Jones added another prestigious late model trophy to his collection, winning the Winchester 400. On November 8, 2013, Jones became the youngest driver ever to win in the history of NASCAR's top-level competition to that time, winning the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway over Ross Chastain at the age of seventeen years, five months, and eight days.
In January 2014, it was announced that Jones would return to KBM in the Truck Series for 2014, competing in all age-eligible events and selected longer track events after he turned eighteen. On July 11, 2014, at Iowa Speedway, Jones dueled Ryan Blaney and ultimately held him off for the win. On September 13, 2014, at Chicagoland Speedway, Jones qualified for Kyle Busch, who would later go on and win the race. On September 27, 2014, Jones won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for his first longer track win. On November 7, 2014, Jones picked up his fourth career Truck Series win under the red flag at Phoenix, due to a power outage.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
