Top Dog: Erik Jones
The 2022 season as a whole was a leap forward for Erik Jones.
In his second season with the team then known as Petty GMS, Jones had his best season since his tenure with Joe Gibbs Racing, which included a breakthrough victory at Darlington Raceway.
The momentum appeared to keep rolling, as Jones’ strong finish to 2022 was coupled with Jimmie Johnson joining the ownership group at Petty GMS, NASCAR Xfinity star Noah Gragson moving into the No. 42, and the team re-branding itself as Legacy Motor Club.
But a quarter of the way into the season, it has been anything but roses for LMC.
Entering the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (April 23), a top 10 from Jones at Atlanta Motor Speedway accounted for the team’s only top 10. A sixth-place result produced by Jones at Talladega changed matters.
Jones quickly advanced from his 24th starting position, getting up to the lead at one point during the first stage. An untimely caution during green flag pit stops mired the No. 43 in traffic, leaving him in 30th by the stage end.
Stage two was more of the same, with the Byron, Michigan, native sampling different lines. He moved up into the top 10 with one move to the top line, but would slide back to finish the second frame in 24th.
What is so unpredictable about superspeedway racing is opting whether to be in the lead draft or hang out back. In this case, Jones found himself watching from the nosebleeds while the lead drivers diced it out in the closing stages. This go around, it paid off.
With five laps remaining, a multi-car crash occurred while Jones was in 26th. That set up an overtime restart that saw another pileup before they made it through turn 1, launching the No. 43 to 15th.
On the final overtime restart, Jones found himself in tow with the bottom line. That would be the safest place to run, as a late block from Bubba Wallace on Ryan Blaney set off the Big One to end the race. As the smoke settled, Jones had escaped through the mess to finish in sixth, the team’s best finish of 2023.
The 26-year-old has certainly found a knack for superspeedway racing. In fact, this was his third consecutive sixth-place finish at Talladega, a track where he lost the race in the tri-oval on the final lap a year ago. In the past six races at the Alabama track, Jones had only finished worse than ninth one time. Eventually, you have to think that success lands him a win there.
But until then, this…
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