CONCORD, N.C. – Erik Jones’ attempt at three straight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) top-10 finishes came to an abrupt end during Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
After qualifying 16th for the series’ longest race of the year, Jones suffered a blown tire on Lap 22 and slammed the Turn 4 wall.
Jones received heavy damage to his No. 20 Reser’s Main St Bistro Toyota Camry and climbed from his battered machine and ending his night. Jones will be credited with a 40th place finish, his worst finish since finishing 30th at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in March.
Jones, a native of Byron, Mich. said he had no warning of the tire letting go before the impact.
“We just blew a right-front. There was no real warning. It’s unfortunate,” said Jones. “We had a pretty good car. The Reser’s Camry was moving forward and driving really well. I was trying to get some track position and work my way to the front. It sucks. It’s a long race and we are obviously out of it early.”
Jones said he wasn’t sure what caused the tire failure but admitted before the crash, he had a car capable of perhaps contending for his second career Cup Series win.
“We had a really good Reser’s Camry,” added Jones. “I think we were in a really good position to work our way forward and just lost a tire. That hasn’t happened to me in a long time so it’s just unfortunate. I don’t know if we ran something over.
“It’s a bummer, you don’t want to be out of the 600 this early and we had a car that could have contended today. Just have to go back to work and go get them next week.”
Goodyear officials Tweeted that Jones ran over debris on the track and a puncture in the center of the tread of his right front tire. Later, they retracted their statement and said the issue was actually related to over deflections (too much load) in the tires. After Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex and alliance driver Matt DiBendetto also suffered failures, Goodyear recommending higher air pressures to fix the issue.
The 13th Cup race of the season will mark Jones’ first DNF (did not finish) of the season. In the past month, Jones has climbed into Playoff territory rising from 18th to 14th in the championship standings on the heels of a third-place finish in the most recent points-paying race at Kansas Speedway earlier this month.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
