Erik Jones – How to Race Nascar

Nascar Driver Erik Jones joins us today to tell us how you (or your kids) get into Nascar, how to watch Nascar, the training that goes into nascar (which transfers to many other sports) and what it takes to win.

If you have interest in going fast, be prepared for a challenge/course you can’t ride indefinately or just want to have a passing understanding of key terms in Nascar and car racing generally, you will love this episode.

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 Erik Jones ( not Eric Jones a former car racer) is an American Nascar racer who has found success at a young age ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Jones ). Erik Jones was born on May 30, 1996 in Byron Michigan to Dave . He won the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck and now competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for  Joe Gibbs Racing (driving a Toyota). As of June 2016 he had 39 XFINITY starts and 7 wins in the Truck Series.

  @Erik_Jones on Twitter, IG

Independent, have to start in car racing on your own

Mom found magazine article about how you could race as a 7 yr old

Started traveling and racing go-karts at early age, until 12 yrs old

Started full-size car at 12 yrs old

Best thing for young kid is to get into quarter midget or go-kart at local track

(Still uses go-karts for fun)

Go-karting is racing in its purest form: high-paced, fast decisions

Active, intense, “Have to be on your game”

Tried every other sport—baseball, football, hockey, track. “Wasn’t a fan, because as a competitive kid, I wasn’t good at those things”

Race car was natural, even at 7, and enjoyed it right away

Early success + enjoyment

Young kids — want to be race car driver, rock star, astronaut (“to be able to say that at 7 was pretty neat”)

Full size cars: start at 12 yrs old in class at Waso Speedway. Racing starting to transition to younger ages on a national scale/level in 2009

Racing against adults, not just other 12 year olds

“Lot of kids start racing and have issues with not fitting in cars.” (At 12, Jones was 5’6” so didn’t have that problem)

Wild West of Sports: no scouts, no draft, you just have to put yourself in the right position, so there are different career paths

-race on dirt or asphalt

-Jones stayed on pavement, got out of quarter midget into stock cars and into late model (drivers doing that more to advance through ranks), traveled around country. Guys in NASCAR keep an eye on these races.

-Other option is open wheeled sprint car race circuit

-3 tiers in top level of NASCAR: Sprint, Infinity, Camping World Truck (first step in ladder, Jones started here in 2013)

-all 3 are very different styles (different cars/trucks): Jones would race all three and going between the disciplines is difficult (similar to CX, MTB and Road, some drivers are better at one discipline)

-Trucks are different: easier to drive by themselves but a lot harder in traffic

-At the end of the day, as drivers, you try to remember what you need to do with each vehicle to make it go fast

-They’re all exciting to watch but truck series is best loved, only takes 90min to watch the whole race, fast and fun, put on a good show. “Everyone goes hard the whole race”

As drivers, you have pit chief, engineers, mechanics. In the cup series, switched to fuel injection so you know what you’re getting for mileage (Team is about 15 people)

Tire strategy is key as well—older, worn out surfaces are harder on tires

Crew: big mix, a lot grew up around or in racing; big transition in garages now where crew chiefs are actual engineers

Lots of rules about what you can have to keep everything fair

NASCAR checks carefully: motos, chassis, bodies, etc.

Best car, of course—there are some variables that can be controlled

Strategy matters!

Not making mistakes (driver and pit crew)

Pitting 5-10 times and not making a mistake is key

Hard to make spots back even with fast car

Fastest car is actually at disadvantage in some ways — guys behind you are going to do the opposite of what you do

Pit crew practices daily with simulation (not always with Jones)

Sometimes Jones will practice with pit box

Can be really difficult pitting—balancing speed and stopping between the lines perfectly

Recently started mountain biking and road biking for added cardio: “it’s tough, to be honest”

“Strength matters a little but a lot of it is cardio”

Look at heart rate of driver = similar to running a marathon

Doing cardio helps keep heart rate and sweat rate (130-140 degrees in the car with firesuit and helmet) lowered through the race

^some guys do stuff for heat training but “I think the best way to do is just get out there and get used to it”

G-forces in car can be difficult

There are simulators that you can use to practice (good for getting visuals of new tracks so you can be prepared)

Used to train most days because testing was allowed, but most of that is gone, mainly just driving on the track on the weekends (2 practice sessions in Xfinity series)—trying to keep things even and equal in the sport

“Some of the mountain biking is kind of intimidating.”

“As a competitive person, it’s nice to have a new thing to compete against.”

Can do basic car repairs. “I grew up around it, starting to race at 7 yrs old. By the time I was 8, I was prepping cars in the barn.”

Still plays on working with cars on personal cars/go-karts

“I think there’s a lot more guys now who don’t know much about the cars in general.”

You don’t want to second-guess yourself out on the track, you don’t want to not know what’s going on with their car

Early on, it’s tough. Not a lot of people want to sponsor minimal exposure track racing

Everything adds up, like tires constantly needing to be replaced

Family able to support him for early years

For new fans wanting to check it out, local short track is the most fun to go watch and mingle with the racing. Totally different experience being there in person. You gain a new respect for it. Speeds are much higher in person, get a better sensation of intensity/aroma/etc.

Martinsville short track to watch on TV (one of the coolest courses)

Jeff Gordon’s biography (read when he was young, was a big influence)

Next race: 1pm EST Saturday in Phoenix, Arizona (race has past)

Miami the weekend after

Offseason does December to 2nd week of February, starting with Daytona 500