Erik Jones has suffered a spinal fracture from his bad wreck at Talladega. Corey Heim will drive the No. 43 car until Jones returns.
[autotag]Erik Jones[/autotag] announced on Tuesday afternoon that he suffered a “spinal fracture” in his wreck at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon. Jones will not compete in this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway. In his place, [autotag]Corey Heim[/autotag], the reserve driver for Legacy Motor Club, will drive the No. 43 car.
According to Legacy Motor Club, Jones’ specific injury is a “compression fracture in a lower vertebra” within his back. The driver of the No. 43 car’s timeline for a return is unknown and will be “week to week.” Heim will also drive the No. 26 Xfinity car for Sam Hunt Racing on Saturday afternoon, so he’ll perform double duty on the weekend of his Cup Series debut.
Jones’ injury isn’t the same as Aric Almirola’s back fracture, which was in the middle of his back. Therefore, this won’t be the same situation. Jones will be evaluated week-to-week to see when he can return. In the meantime, this is a good yet unfortunate opportunity for Heim to make his Cup Series debut in the No. 43 far for Legacy Motor Club.
Erik Jones, driver of the No. 43 car for Legacy Motor Club, was released from a local hospital after a bad wreck at Talladega Superspeedway.
.[autotag]Erik Jones[/autotag] was involved in a very bad accident on Lap 157 of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon. Jones’ No. 43 car shot up the race track into the wall after the Toyota drivers made a mistake while running single file. The Legacy Motor Club driver talked to the media after being released from the infield care center but it didn’t last long.
Jones returned to the infield care center later and was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation after his wreck. Luckily, the driver of the No. 43 car didn’t have to stay in the hospital overnight. According to a press release from Legacy Motor Club, Jones was transferred to UAB University and released before the clock struck midnight on Sunday.
It is unclear if Jones has suffered an injury or not but it is good that he didn’t need to stay. On the No. 43 radio, Jones was talking about his back and said after the wreck that he was sore. Hopefully, the Legacy Motor Club driver is OK as the Cup Series goes to Dover Motor Speedway for a tough and physical 400 miles on concrete.
Chase Briscoe responds to Erik Jones’ frustration toward him after Phoenix Raceway in 2024. Find out what Briscoe had to say about Jones!
[autotag]Erik Jones[/autotag] had a fast No. 43 car for Legacy Motor Club at Phoenix Raceway, but a bent toe link in the Final Stage ruined any chance of a good finish. Jones finished in 31st place, despite a fourth-place qualifying effort, and the No. 43 team placed the blame on [autotag]Chase Briscoe[/autotag]. After the race, Jones expressed his frustration with Briscoe, who he believed was at fault for the incident.
Briscoe, who heard what Jones said about him, spoke to Fronstretch about his side of the story. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver didn’t know why Jones was mad at him and seemed open to a possible phone call.
“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.”
It will be fascinating to see what comes from this accident at Phoenix. Briscoe and Jones race around each other a lot, and more drama could be on the way. If what Brisoce is saying remains true, Jones could call him during the week and settle their differences. If not, this could just be one chapter of the story.
Erik Jones expresses his frustration with Chase Briscoe after his incident at Phoenix. Find out what Jones had to say about Briscoe!
[autotag]Erik Jones[/autotag] showed tremendous speed during NASCAR Cup Series practice at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, and it translated to qualifying. Jones qualified in fourth place and finished fourth in Stage 1. Unfortunately for Jones, a slow pit stop got him in traffic, and he later bent a toe link after contact with Bubba Wallace.
However, the No. 43 team blamed Chase Briscoe for the incident, and Jones talked to Fronstretch about his run-in with the Stewart-Haas Racing driver. Jones was clearly frustrated after a good car turned into a 31st-place finish.
“[Chase 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.”
Jones’s frustration is reasonable, as the No. 43 car had a lot of speed at Phoenix. It was the fastest Legacy Motor Club car for Jones in 2024 and represented a chance to turn it around after a rough start. The Michigan native has one top-10 finish through four races and hopes to earn another at Bristol Motor Speedway next weekend.
It will be a while before Legacy Motor Club finds itself on solid ground as a Toyota team and all the change and growth that’s come with it materializes. Erik Jones, however, can already forecast a different outlook for the season. “I think last …
It will be a while before Legacy Motor Club finds itself on solid ground as a Toyota team and all the change and growth that’s come with it materializes. Erik Jones, however, can already forecast a different outlook for the season.
“I think last year going in, we were a little unsure, and then obviously after we announced the change to Toyota, we knew it was going to be a long season,” Jones said Wednesday during Daytona 500 media day. “This year, it’s different. We feel like we’re starting, probably not totally where we want to be, because I don’t feel like we’ve had enough time and I think most would agree with that in the shop. We just need more time to keep building these things out internally that we need to. But there’s a lot more anticipation and hope.
“We have a much clearer path and direction of where we’re going to end up and what we need to do to build and where we need to build. Obviously, we’ve got great partners now (with) AdventHealth this weekend, Family Dollar, (and) Dollar Tree coming on. So, there’s a lot more resounding optimism from everybody starting the year off than there’s been in years past.”
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Jones enters his fourth season driving the No. 43 car. He has been along for the ride through multiple iterations of the race team, different teammates and many other changes. It hasn’t been smooth sailing by any means with the ebbs and flows of performance, but Jones has entered each season with as much optimism as possible.
This time, there appears no need for Jones to force any positivity ahead of the Daytona 500. Despite the continued work behind the scenes, there is potential and more stability.
“It’s been interesting; it’s just been a long road for me in Cup and not just in the 43 car,” he said. “I come in (the series) in the 20, and then I come to the 43, and we’ve gone through so many changes with personnel, ownership, manufacturer, internally, team — so every year has been a grind. This year started no different. It’s a grind right now for us just because we’re working hard to try to hit the ground in the right direction. So, every year has been that grind, but this year doesn’t feel like a lost cause.
“Sometimes it feels like you’re just working and working and working, and everything is pushing back against you. I feel like we’re working hard, and things are pushing for us. We’ve got a lot of people in our corner that are pushing and saying, ‘OK, you guys are working hard, putting the work in. We want to see you run well.’ Toyota wants us to run well. Our group wants to run well. But I think the manufacturer support is the biggest thing. Having a manufacturer that wants you to go out and succeed can make a big difference.”
Legacy Motor Club switched from Chevrolet to Toyota over the winter, giving the manufacturer two (occasionally three) additional cars in the Cup Series. It is the first time since 2011 that Toyota has had eight full-time teams.
However, the organization does not have an alliance partner like in previous years. Legacy Motor Club is standing on its own, even its pit crews, beginning this season while having more resources available through the Toyota partnership. It’s also a partnership that allowed for employee growth and department expansion at the race shop.
“Overall, the possibilities are somewhat endless, but we still have to use the data in the right way and get things going in the right way,” Jones said. “We’ve done the work that we can do at this point, and now we have to get out and get racing and see where we stack up and go to work from there. That part isn’t much different from years past, but if we start on the wrong foot, we at least have probably a better direction and resources to get to where we want to be quicker.”
Jones know his team still has a lot of questions to answer, but is encouraged by the way things have been going so far with Legacy’s new setup. Lesley Ann Miller/Motorsport Images
The expectation is Legacy Motor Club has nowhere to go but up this season. There are two superspeedways to start the year (Daytona and Atlanta) before the series heads west to a traditional mile-and-a-half, followed by two short tracks (Phoenix and Bristol) and a road course before the end of March. Jones can see the expectations changing as the season progresses but believes Legacy will know where they stand pretty quickly.
“You want to set expectations high, just because things are better now than they have been for us, but they’re much different too,” Jones said. “We’ve relied on alliances since I’ve been in the 43 car and that’s a huge department in itself that we’re currently building to fill that gap … Everybody is still trying to learn their role, and we’re still working hard on the sim. I was on the sim all the way up to yesterday trying to work on stuff to get better for races going forward past here and Atlanta. So, things are still being built out a lot now, and obviously, we’re getting going.
“There’s a lot of work to do still at this point but once we’re done with Vegas and Phoenix, we’ll have a good sense of where we’re at. Vegas has been a good track, historically, for us. Phoenix has been a little hit or miss, but I think we will have a good judge on probably where our short-track program is at. Excited to get there? No, but I hope it’s good, too.”
Erik Jones had a down year with Legacy Motor Club in the NASCAR Cup Series. Here, you can check out Jones’ 2023 season in review!
[autotag]Erik Jones[/autotag] was hoping for a strong 2023 NASCAR season after a successful campaign in 2022; however, it wasn’t in the cards for the Legacy Motor Club driver. Jones ended the year with one top-5 finish and seven top-10 finishes while earning a 20.7 average finishing position. Everything was down across the board as the driver of the No. 43 car finished 27th in the point standings.
Jones’ campaign was highlighted by a best finish of third place at Kansas Speedway during the playoffs. Legacy Motor Club started to show better speed in August and slowly progressed into semi-decent equipment. The move to Toyota may have hampered Jones’ success, but the 2024 NASCAR season should be bright.
The 27-year-old driver will have John Hunter Nemechek as his teammate in 2024, allowing him to unite with a fellow Toyota driver for the lower ranks. Jones has shown that he is a race-winning driver when given the right equipment, and if Legacy Motor Club improves with Toyota, the field should watch out for the Michigan native next year.
Legacy Motor Club reveals Erik Jones’ new Advent Health paint scheme for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. Take a look at Jones’ scheme!
[autotag]Legacy Motor Club[/autotag] announced on Tuesday that [autotag]Advent Health[/autotag] will become a sponsor for [autotag]Erik Jones[/autotag] after spending time with Ross Chastain at Trackhouse Racing. This comes after Busch Light moved away from Stewart-Haas Racing following Kevin Harvick’s retirement to join Chastain and the No. 1 team.
Advent Health will sponsor Jones and the No. 43 car in six NASCAR Cup Series races, including the 2024 Daytona 500. On Tuesday night, Legacy Motor Club revealed Jones’ paint scheme. It is the first paint scheme officially revealed on Toyota’s new Camry XSE Next Gen car, which will debut in race action during the 2024 season.
This very clean paint scheme features a blue number with a white base. Jones is the only driver at Legacy Motor Club to have a paint scheme revealed for 2024. John Hunter Nemechek, the other full-time driver in the No. 42 car, has yet to have any paint schemes released, while Jimmie Johnson and his No. 84 team face the same situation.
Legacy Motor Club lost its appeal this week of the L1 penalty issued to the No. 43 team of Erik Jones. NASCAR penalized the team after the Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway for a greenhouse modification on the No. 43 Chevrolet. The …
Legacy Motor Club lost its appeal this week of the L1 penalty issued to the No. 43 team of Erik Jones.
NASCAR penalized the team after the Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway for a greenhouse modification on the No. 43 Chevrolet. The car was taken for teardown inspection at the NASCAR R&D Center.
Jones and the team were docked 60 championship points and five playoff points. Dave Elenz, the team’s crew chief, was fined $75,000 and given a two-race suspension.
Chuck Deery, Dixon Johnston, and Cathy Rice heard the appeal from the National Motorsports Appeals Panel.
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“The penalty was consistent with previously assessed penalties for similar situations,” their statement read. “The rule book is clear that teams are not allowed to modify single-sourced parts, and therefore the penalty was upheld.”
Danny Efland is listed as the interim crew chief for Jones this weekend at the Chicago street course (Sunday, 5:30 p.m. ET). Jones is 30th in the championship standings.
Legacy Motor Club has not announced plans to make a final appeal.
Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway was the first race in a while that Erik Jones felt his No. 43 team was in the ballpark, and he turned it into a top-10 finish. Jones finished eighth in the Ally 400, his best finish on a non-superspeedway type …
Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway was the first race in a while that Erik Jones felt his No. 43 team was in the ballpark, and he turned it into a top-10 finish.
Jones finished eighth in the Ally 400, his best finish on a non-superspeedway type track this season. It was also the first top-10 finish for Jones and his Legacy Motor Club team in two months.
It was “for sure” a needed run for the group.
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“When you’re struggling, you get kind of in a rut, and it seems like you’re never going to get out of it,” said Jones. “But we kept working, and I knew we were going to get our stuff better, it was just a matter of getting the pieces together.
“We’ve been trying some stuff the last month; felt like Gateway was going to be a good day for us and obviously, had the incident on pit road, and today I think we put everything together. Proud of that. Obviously, a huge step forward and hopefully more for the rest of the season.”
Jones started the race 23rd, which he feared would happen with an early qualifying draw. But knowing he had a top-10 car kept Jones focused on the climb toward the front.
“Just a good car; good car off the trailer on Friday, fast in practice,” Jones said of what went right at Nashville. “We didn’t qualify good, but I felt like we could race good and we did that. Just keep bringing good cars, that’s what it’s all about.
“I know we’re going to do that more. The second half of the year always seems better for me. I don’t know – the tracks or whatever. But hopefully, we can keep bringing good cars.”
It’s going to be an uphill climb for Jones and Legacy Motor Club. The organization has admittedly taken a step backward from last season, and that fight now includes an upcoming transition period to a new manufacturer next season, changing the dynamics when it comes to available resources.
“It’s tough, obviously, with the penalty we got, we’re pretty far back in points, so a lot out the window on the year,” Jones said, referring to the loss of 60 points for a greenhouse modification after St. Louis.
“But we want to run well. There’s nothing else we can do but try to go out and do this. A top 10 is really good for us right now with where we’re at, and it’s what we’ve got to do. Hopefully, we can continue that the rest of the year, build off this year, and keep moving forward.”
For Jones, the focus-forward attitude and determination to succeed despite adversity will, if nothing else, show how strong the organization is.
“The last two months have for sure done that, kind of tested everybody,” Jones said. “But I knew everybody was going to stick together and work at this deal, try to get it better. Got to keep pushing forward. Got to keep trying to get it better.
“We’re a bit on an island right here, but we’ve still got stuff to learn to try to apply for next year.”
Legacy Motor Club has been issued an L1 penalty for a greenhouse infraction on the No. 43 Chevrolet of Erik Jones. Jones and the team have been docked 60 points and five playoff points. Dave Elenz, the team’s crew chief, has been fined $75,000 and …
Legacy Motor Club has been issued an L1 penalty for a greenhouse infraction on the No. 43 Chevrolet of Erik Jones.
Jones and the team have been docked 60 points and five playoff points. Dave Elenz, the team’s crew chief, has been fined $75,000 and suspended from the next two NASCAR Cup Series races (Sonoma Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway).
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The infraction relates to section 14.1 of the NASCAR Rule Book under overall assembled vehicle rules and 14.1.2.B engineering change log. Hendrick Motorsports was penalized for a greenhouse infraction earlier this season on the No. 24 Chevrolet of William Byron and the No. 48 Chevrolet of Alex Bowman.
On a NASCAR Cup Series car, the greenhouse consists of the top part of the race car. That includes the roof and top of the front and rear glass.
The No. 43 was taken to the NASCAR R&D Center for further inspection after Sunday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway. Jones finished 18th in the Enjoy Illinois 300 in St. Louis.
With the penalty, Jones falls from 26th to 30th in the championship standings.
