Sources: Erik Jones To Replace Bubba Wallace In RPM's No. 43

NASCAR driver Erik Jones is finalizing a deal with Richard Petty Motorsports to wheel the No. 43 car in '21, sources say, making him the expected successor to Bubba Wallace. Jones is currently with Joe Gibbs Racing but is being ousted after this season to make way for rising driver Christopher Bell, so Jones and his reps have been in the driver market for a couple months. Sources say they have landed on the car made famous by Richard Petty, part owner of the team alongside majority owner Andrew Murstein.

Terms of Jones’ new deal were unclear, but a formal announcement could be imminent. Wallace is vacating the No. 43 after this season, his second with RPM, and next year is joining the new Michael Jordan-Denny Hamlin team, which has filed for trademarks associated with the name 43XI Racing.