Furniture Row’s Jones hopes to get playoff push from Michigan support

DETROIT - Erik Jones hasn’t spent too much time enjoying Michigan International Speedway. That’s because the Byron, Mich., native has been too busy driving.

Jones graduated from Swartz Creek High School in 2014, but he missed the ceremony to race in the Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. The track had a special diploma presentation for Jones before the start of the race where the 18-year-old finished 11th.

Jones hopes to make up for his lost time at MIS and put together one last playoff push in the Pure Michigan 400 on Sunday.

“It’s funny, I didn’t go to MIS a ton when I was a kid,” Jones said in a conference call earlier this week. “I actually only went a few times because we were racing.

“It was always just my dad and I, so that’s always a fun memory for me to think about. Obviously, my dad was a race fan, and sharing that time with him down there was pretty fun.” Jones’ dad, Dave, died June 7, 2016. Jones said his favorite MIS moment with his father was when he made his debut there in the Trucks race in 2015. He placed third behind Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney en route to winning the Truck Series championship later that year.

Jones finished 13th two months ago in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan. The Cup rookie hopes he can build off that success this weekend, especially after a pair of setbacks.

A flat tire in July at New Hampshire Motor Speedway forced him to finish 39th, all but knocking him out of playoff contention.

It’ll take quite the effort for Jones to make another playoff push.

Ranked 18th in the standings, Jones will most likely need a win in one of the four remaining regular-season races.