Erik Jones’ spotter is ‘throwing him in the deep end’ as they trade roles at Sonoma

SONOMA, Calif. — On a typical Sunday, Will Rodgers spots for Erik Jones in the NASCAR Cup Series.

At Sonoma Raceway, they’ll be trading places. Jones will be spotting for Rodgers – at least for Saturday in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

“[Months ago,] I kind of just cornered Erik, more or less, and said, ‘Hey, if I get a ride at Sonoma, you’re going to spot for me, right?’ And he was like, ‘Sure, why not?’ And I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to hold you to that.’ And sure enough, everything for Sonoma started to come together,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers found an opportunity with Cope Family Racing, the NASCAR Xfinity Series team he usually spots for. Thomas Annunziata was supposed to race the team’s No. 70 Chevrolet at Sonoma — but a tight championship battle in the Trans Am TA2 Series is taking him nearly 3,000 miles away on the same weekend to Watkins Glen International in New York.

“In order for Thomas to do both, he would have had to miss qualifying for TA2 and that would jeopardize his points position, potentially for the championship. So they opted to open up the race for Sonoma,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers immediately called team owners Derrike Cope and Nick Tucker, who were quick to say yes. Once Rodgers found sponsorship and made it official, he called his driver-turned-spotter of choice.

“I guess at first I was thinking he probably won’t get it worked out. Then it got closer and closer and it was like, ‘Oh he’s actually going to race.’ So there’s no backing out, I told him I’m gonna do it,” Erik Jones said with a laugh. “I’m either going to like it or really not like it and that’ll determine if I do it again.”

“I’m throwing him in the deep end,” Rodgers said, also with a laugh. “I said, ‘You’re the primary,’ and, to be honest, I was fully ready to have him spot the whole race by himself.”

Erik Jones last spotted for Rick Carelli, his main spotter at the time, in a fun race against Tim Fedewa at Stafford Springs Speedway. Fedewa’s spotter was his driver at the time — Kevin Harvick.

In 2017, Harvick and a handful of other NASCAR Cup Series drivers raced at Sonoma Raceway in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West (now ARCA Menards Series West).

They all started behind Will Rodgers. Only Harvick could hang with Rodgers.

“He and I ended up absolutely stomping the entire field, drove away and battled with each other, nose to tail for 10, 15 laps,” Rodgers said.

After leading the most laps, Rodgers ran second to Harvick as they neared the finish.

“I had a really good chance to beat him, and I decided not to be elbows up with him mainly because [he’s a] Cup champion and probably one of the only guys that everybody in the garage seems to listen to,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers’ tactful second-place finish drew praise from Harvick.

“When the road course stuff shows up, Will [Rodgers] is probably capable of being in an Xfinity race or a Cup race. In the right equipment on a road course, he’d be a top-10 competitor,” Harvick said, as noted in an NBC Sports article from the time.

“I went from being a nobody to somebody overnight,” Rodgers said.

A year later, Rodgers led 35 of 64 laps from the pole in the West race at Sonoma. Jones and three other Cup drivers finished in the top six positions — but none of them could beat Rodgers for the win.

The Sonoma success ultimately landed Rodgers some starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series — and eventually the spotting gig with Erik Jones.

Rodgers isn’t the only driver to get into spotting in NASCAR. Nearly half of his Xfinity competitors at Sonoma Raceway will have spotters with similar racing resumes as him:

• Reed Sorenson: Josh Williams, Kaulig Racing No. 11 Chevrolet
• Drew Herring: William Sawalich, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota
• Frankie Kimmel: Sammy Smith, JR Motorsports No. 8 Chevrolet
• Brandon McReynolds: Shane van Gisbergen, JRM No. 9 Chevrolet
• Tim Fedewa: Ryan Sieg, RSS Racing No. 39 Ford
• T.J. Bell: Kris Wright, Our Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet
• Derek Kneeland: Austin Hill, Richard Childress Racing No. 21 Chevrolet
• Hayden Reeves: Sage Karam, No. 53 Joey Gase Motorsports entry
• Nick Del Campo: Austin J. Hill, No. 35 Joey Gase Motorsports entry
• Brit Andersen: Anthony Alfredo, No. 42 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet
• Mike Herman Jr: Jeb Burton, No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet
• Jason Jarrett: Blaine Perkins, No. 31 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet
• Coleman Pressley: Christian Eckes, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
• Kevin Hamlin: Harrison Burton, No. 25 AM Racing Ford
• Andy Houston: Sheldon Creed, No. 00 Haas Factory Team Ford
• Tyler Green: Sam Mayer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford

“They’re going to give me a hard time,” Erik Jones joked.

On the main spotter hill at Sonoma, Jones is planning to find Branden Lines. Lines is Jones’ former spotter. He now works with William Byron in the NASCAR Cup Series and Brennan Poole in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“The main stand… kind of bails me out. I won’t have to do pit road or the restart zone. That will be up to our second spotter. I’ll just get to call the lefts and rights and call out the NASCAR stuff with him… keeping up with the NASCAR stuff is harder…[like] the lineups, when and where you’re supposed to be doing stuff, so hopefully Will has me hooked up with his gear,” Jones said. “It’s nice to do everything at least once in your sport.”

Jones won’t be the first driver to use the Xfinity Series to try out a different role on a team. At Pocono Raceway in June, Dale Earnhardt Jr. went to victory lane as the fill-in crew chief for Connor Zilisch.

While advancements in technology and communication have made a one-off crew chief gig easy, a one-off spotting gig hasn’t had that. Not every driver is naturally cut out for it either.

“It’s just guys that understand the big picture, like the whole picture, understand the details, and they can see that stuff there. There are definitely a handful of drivers that I feel like have attempted to do the spotting thing and… they can’t or it’s just not working out,” Rodgers said.

Jones is going to take it as it comes with Rodgers — just as Rodgers did when he first spotted for Jones.

“I’m gonna go off of everything I want to hear as a driver,” Jones said. “I let Will do what he felt natural with and then from there, I would change a few things… so I could understand.”

While Jones is ready to go, Rodgers has had to do a little more preparation. Rodgers’ last NASCAR national series start was in July 2023 at Richmond Raceway with Young’s Motorsports. Rodgers has leaned on his workout and hydration regimens and his experience of jumping into a NASCAR vehicle after being away for a while.

“It’s tough. It really is tough. I don’t know, I’ve always been able to do it. I think it’s by necessity. I’ve always been the guy that kind of just jumps in last minute and or unprepared or I don’t have a lot of reps, and I’ve had to learn how to adapt very, very quickly,” Rodgers said. “So I may not always be the guy on top of the board whenever I jump in, but I’m always the guy that is competitive right away.”

Sonoma makes Rodgers confident too. After all, this is the track where he kickstarted a career that has inspired wisdom he imparts on younger drivers.

“I pretty much say like, ‘Well, it’s all about who you know,’ but it’s all about right place, right time as well. So you got to be there in order to find the opportunities that are there. A lot of them go unseen from the public perspective. So as long as you’re in the garage or part of the program, you can usually find opportunities,” Rodgers said.

So, if Rodgers ran well enough this weekend to have a big opportunity knocking on his door, would he answer it?

“I’d love to do it, as long as it doesn’t conflict with my my obligations on the Cup side, where I have to stay definitely 100% focused. I think you never know. I’m for it, for sure,” Rodgers said.

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