MADISON, Ill. – Just a week after telling FOX 2 he wanted to be a NASCAR driver, a determined young man who walked to his eighth-grade graduation spent a day meeting his racecar idols at the Enjoy Illinois 300.
On Sunday, Xavier Jones, and his brother, Devon, got a behind-the-scenes tour of World Wide Technology Raceway and met with the drivers ahead of the Enjoy Illinois 300.
Xavier, accompanied by his brother and a friend, walked more than 10,000 steps in order to attend his eighth-grade graduation ceremony at Yeatman Middle School. The young man’s story drew the attention of an official with Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s race team.
“So for a young kid to be interested in that, we just thought that was super cool. When we heard his story of walking to his graduation, we were like, this is amazing,” said Kreig Robinson, director of equity, inclusion, and belonging for 23XI Racing. “He has what it takes to be an engineer or a data scientist, or even a driver in the sport.”
Xavier even got to meet his favorite driver, Kyle Busch, who praised the 14-year-old’s passion and determination.
“It shows the work ethic, first and foremost, to be a good race car driver these days, and being able to set aside the time to study, look at film, and review data, all that sort of stuff,” Busch said. “For (Xavier) it kind of shows a little bit of that first installment. From there, the sky’s the limit.”
