Who Said? JGR selects substitute drivers for Busch's No. 54 XFINITY car
Hamlin, Jones and Said are scheduled to fill in for Kyle Busch in the next nine XFINITY Series races.
Boris Said
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Joe Gibbs Racing revealed the No. 54 Monster Evergy Toyota driver lineup for 20 of the remaining 31 XFINITY Series races while Kyle Busch recuperates from injuries sustained in the NXS race at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 21.
JGR announced on Monday that Denny Hamlin will drive the No. 54 Camry this weekend in the NXS event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway followed by Auto Club Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Development driver Erik Jones will fill the seat at Phoenix International Raceway and Richmond International Raceway. Jones finished 13th this past weekend at Atlanta in the No. 54 Monster Toyota. JGR currently expects Jones to compete in 19 NXS events along with his full-time truck schedule.
Rounding out the No. 54 driver roster is veteran Boris Said. The 52-year-old Carlsbad, Calif. native will run seven races including Talladega Superspeedway, Iowa Speedway (May 17 & Aug. 1), Chicagoland Speedway, Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, Road America and Kentucky Speedway. Said has 23 career starts in NXS. His sole victory came at Montreal in 2010.
We hate this for Kyle obviously and I think everyone is focused on getting him back healthy.
Joe Gibbs
“We hate this for Kyle obviously and I think everyone is focused on getting him back healthy,” said team owner Joe Gibbs in the release “We can’t thank Monster Energy and all of our partners enough for working with us while Kyle is recovering and certainly it is nice to have Denny and Erik ready to fill in. We’re also excited that Boris will have the opportunity to drive the car for seven races in 2015.”
No timetable was provided for Busch’s return. The 29-year-old driver, who has 29 Cup wins, 70 NXS wins and 42 truck wins, “continues to rest comfortably in his home in Charlotte, North Carolina before rehabilitating from a compound fracture of the right lower leg and left mid-foot fracture,” according to the release.
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