LEXINGTON, Ohio – While other NTT IndyCar Series drivers were racing into the very early hours of Sunday morning in last week’s Iowa 300, Ed Jones was resting.

He is the street and road course driver in the No. 20 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing. Owner/driver Ed Carpenter drives that car on the ovals, such as Iowa Speedway.

Given the choice, however, Jones would have rather skipped a few hours of sleep and been in the short-oval race that ended at 1:30 a.m. local time.

“Of course, I would like to be racing, but I knew how it was going to be when I joined the team,” Jones told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “I just have to focus on Mid-Ohio.”

Jones is back in the No. 20 Chevrolet this weekend for the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He is hoping to finally hit his groove with the team in his first season with ECR.

Including the Indianapolis 500, Jones has started in 10 of the 12 NTT IndyCar Series races held this season.

Jones has been impressive in qualifications in 2019. He has made the Firestone Fast Six twice and the Fast Nine for the 500. He started fifth in the INDYCAR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and started sixth in the Honda Indy Toronto earlier this month.

Jones’ highlight was starting fourth, on the inside Row 2, in the Indy 500 as all three of Ed Carpenter’s cars made the Fast Nine.

“It was fantastic, especially being the third car,” Jones said. “There are not many teams that can do that with a part-time car. The team performed great for me over the month. It was fantastic being a part of that and is one of the highlights of the season. Qualifying has been a stronger point of ours this year.”

Jones has struggled to turn those good qualification efforts into positive race results. His only top-10 finish in 2019 was a sixth-place finish in the INDYCAR Grand Prix.

As a young driver, Jones needs more time in the Indy car in order to improve.

“Testing is very limited,” Jones said. “It’s very hard to enter the season without being able to test. We keep working on things. Teams have also made a step ahead in the offseason. There is a bigger gap between teams now. The cars are close in IndyCar but realistically we haven’t had races with a lot of cautions and yellow flags. When you have all-green races, you see the spread between teams and there is a big difference. A few teams have made bigger jumps than others.

“We are working on catching up a bit, and I’m confident we will get there.”

Next up for Jones is the Mid-Ohio, where he hopes to improve on last year’s 15th place finish.

“Last year, we were on pace for the Fast Six until another car caused a red flag before I got to the line,” Jones recalled. “In the race, we were looking decent again, but I got a (tire) puncture and had to make another pit stop. We had a good test there after Road America and made some gains and hopefully that will benefit us a bit.

“It’s always hard to pass there, regardless of what aero kit you use. Qualifying will be important, but you have to run a fast pace and save fuel.

“It’s a fun track when the car handles well – it’s one of those tracks. Toronto is a place where I’ve had the most fun in a long time. You get to throw the car around, but Mid-Ohio is a great track, especially in qualifying. Mid-Ohio and Barber are fun tracks.”