AVONDALE, Ariz. — Erik Jones qualified in the top five and ran near the front of the field for a majority of Sunday’s (March 10) Cup event at Phoenix Raceway.
After the final restart with 92 laps to go, Chase Briscoe was racing with Jones in the middle of the field when both drivers got four-wide. Things got tight and Jones slapped the outside wall, damaging his car and knocking him off the pace for the rest of the day. He finished 31st, seven laps down.
Jones was not happy with Briscoe after the race, and he expressed as such with Frontstretch.
“[The] No. 14 (Briscoe) is dragging us down over and over, restart after restart,” Jones said. “He put us four wide because he’s slowing us down so much, and I got wrecked.
“So, that sucks, but he seems to have an issue with me every week. I’ll call him this week, he probably won’t call be back, and [I’d] love to talk to him.”
Briscoe continued on from the incident and finished ninth, his second top 10 of the season after he nabbed 10th in the Daytona 500.
“We were able to leapfrog [using] some track position stuff,” Briscoe told Frontstretch after the race. “And we got our car way better, too, and was able to hold on there for ninth, so really good momentum.”
He also gave his side of the contact with Jones.
“I don’t know what I did, I know we were four wide at one point,” Briscoe said. “I got super tight and got into him, I think. I don’t know if that’s the part he’s mad about or what. If he calls me, I’ll gladly answer. I’ve never really talked to Erik before, and I don’t have a problem with him at all, but I feel like we definitely always race around each other. I’m racing hard, I’m trying to do what’s best for my guys.”
In addition to being around each other on the track, they are also right beside each other in the point standings; Jones is 18th in points while Briscoe is 19th.
Both drivers will look ahead to the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway, and it remains to be seen how they will race each other going forward.
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