12 Questions with rising NASCAR driver Erik Jones

Jeff Gluck | USA TODAY Sports

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Erik Jones, the up-and-coming Joe Gibbs Racing driver who got his first Sprint Cup Series experience Sunday as an emergency fill-in for Denny Hamlin.

Q: If NASCAR allowed you to listen to music while you were racing, would you want to?

A: That's an interesting question, because I sing to myself sometimes in the car. I've never listened to music in the race car before. I'd give it a try though; I think it'd be something fun to see what would happen.

Sometimes I find myself daydreaming when we're driving along and I have to kind of snap back into it, so it might kind of break my focus. So I don't know if that would be a good idea.

What kind of songs do you sing to yourself?

Whatever the song of the week is. I'll get stuck on a song and I'll listen to it non-stop for like a week, and then I'll get so tired of it that I can't listen to it again.

Q: Where did your first paycheck come from?

A: Like a true pay stub? I was working for my dad, actually. I want to say I was like 13 and I was saving for my first car. He owned a Corvette business up in Michigan and sold Corvette parts. I was working for him in the warehouse, picking parts.

I remember getting that pay stub and putting it right in the bank.

Q: Who is an autograph you got as a kid that seemed to be a big deal to you at the time?

A: Tony Stewart. I remember it vividly. I went to a Home Depot that was like an hour from my house and waited in line for what seemed like forever — probably an hour and a half or two hours.

He was just like the coolest guy I'd ever met at the time. I was racing Quarter Midgets at the time and brought a picture of me racing to show it to him. We had raced in the parking lot of the Brickyard (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) and that was the picture.

He saw it and wished me good luck, and at the time — I was 8 or 9 years old — that was a huge deal! He was like, "Hey man, good luck, keep doing it." That was just the coolest thing ever for me.

That's cool. Have you ever talked about that with Tony?

You know, I've never met Tony again after that. I'd bring it up to him if I had the chance to. But it was just cool he was one of the few guys who would take the time to do that, and that's something I've never forgotten.

Q: Where's a place you've never been that you'd like to go visit?

A: My dad and I were talking about this just the other day, and I said I'd like to go to Italy. Traveling out of the country kind of freaks me out, so it's like, "Where would you really want to go?" And if I could go anywhere, Italy would be pretty cool to see.

Q: Do people ever accuse you of being addicted to your phone?

A: I've never really gotten that. I was pretty bad about it a few years ago and I used to have to charge my phone four times a day, but now I'm a little bit better about it. I've weaned myself off of it. I try to enjoy more human interaction now.

What's the secret to weaning yourself off the phone?

(Laughs) You know, I don't know. I think I've just kept myself busier most of the time. Back in those days I was so bored that I sat on my phone half the day, but now I have a few more things to keep me occupied.

Q: If a genie promised you a Cup championship in exchange for never being able to do your favorite hobby again, would you accept that offer?

A: Yeah, because my favorite hobby right now is golf and I'm terrible at it. So absolutely. It would spare me the pain of showing up at the golf course every day and wondering why I don't hit it any better. (Laughs)

Q: What's your preferred method of dealing with an angry driver after a race?

A: I had an incident with Ryan Blaney at Las Vegas a few weeks back, and he called me right away — an hour or two right after the race, when I wasn't even back to my hotel yet. And I really respected that. That's something that definitely isn't easy to do for the driver who is at fault — and I've been on that end, too. So calling is the way I'd like to be able to take care of it. I think that shows respect being able to talk to a guy that soon after.

It's never easy to talk to a driver and really share your side of the story. But at the same time, you can't let it go and get into a battle where you're just going to wreck each other back and forth. That's never a good thing.

Q: Do you ever get mistaken for another driver or celebrity?

A: I never did until I went to Atlanta (in March) and I was wearing Kyle (Busch's) Monster firesuit. I had one guy who was walking behind me and he was like, "Kyle. Kyle! KYLE!" Finally I turned around and he was like, "Hey, can you sign this, man?" He never even corrected himself.

So did you sign it as Erik or Kyle?

I signed it as Erik. I wasn't going to forge Kyle's signature. (Laughs)

Q: If you had a time machine and you could travel to any year and race, where would you go?

A: I'd love to go back to the '70s. I think that was a really, really pure time in racing. It was just man and machine, where they'd just get in and drive it. That's something I'd like to experience. I might try it and say, "Please take me back to 2015 right now!" But I'd love to have a shot and see what it was all about.

Q: Would you rather have the ability to fly or be invisible?

A: Well, how fast could I fly?

As fast as you wanted. Like Superman.

Oh, I'd definitely pick flying then. Flying on planes is the worst. So I'd just fly back and forth from the races myself.

Q: I've been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. The last interview was with Trevor Bayne, and he wanted to know: What's something about your current situation you'd like to remind yourself of in the future?

A: The biggest thing is to remember how cool it is now when people come up and ask for autographs and know your name. If I ever make it to Cup and at some point everybody knows my name and wants an autograph, I don't want to forget how much I wanted people to say, "Hey Erik, will you sign this?" That's pretty cool somebody wants my autograph, and that's something you never want to forget. I think some people do forget it along the way.

People don't always remember how important the fans are. At one time, I was that fan. And I'd hate when I'd go to a driver and he'd act like he wasn't going to give me the time of day. That was just the worst thing in the world for me. So I definitely don't want to forget that.

Q: And do you have a question I can ask the next driver?

A: Can you tell me when you know who it is? That would make it easier on me.

Q: Finally, how did this interview go on a scale of 1-10?

A: Probably a 10, because I could answer all of the questions really easily. (Laughs)