DARLINGTON, SC. – After perhaps his most challenging season to date, Erik Jones returns to Darlington Speedway, where the driver of the No. 43 Chevrolet is the defending winner of the Southern 500.
Jones barely missed the Playoffs last season. However, he had no problem playing spoiler in the first race of the Round of 16.
Once again on the outside looking in, Jones, 27, would like nothing better than to steal the spotlight and return to Victory Lane on Sunday night at the Track Too Tough to Tame.
“I’ve always liked Darlington,” Jones said. “From the first time I came with Xfinity, obviously Cup, especially the fall race, the Southern 500. I like the race in the sense that you race the track.
“There’s so many late model races I ran growing up—Grand Slam type of races which I raced a lot when I was younger. You were doing the same thing—saving your equipment, racing the track, staying out of trouble, then getting to the end of the race and steadily making your car better, putting yourself in position to go win it at the end.
“That’s what the race is all about at Darlington. It’s changed a little bit with the Next Gen, car because it’s more durable. It’s a little bit tougher to pass, and track position is more valuable than with the Gen 6 car. But you’re still trying to stay out of trouble. I love that race. It’s an old-school race and I’ve always had a lot of fun with it.”
Over the past decade, Jones’ ascension through the NASCAR ranks seemed effortless. At 17, the Byron, Michigan native won on the Camping World Truck and ARCA Menards tours. Two years later, Jones won the 2015 truck title while moonlighting—and winning—in the Xfinity Series.
He graduated to full-time Xfinity competition the following season, where won four races and advanced to the Championship 4—albeit while grieving the loss of his father, Dave, who died after a short battle with cancer in June.
Jones remained on the NASCAR fast track. He was promoted to the Cup Series, but with no available seat at Joe Gibbs Racing, the Toyota development driver relocated to Furniture Row Racing for his rookie season in 2017. After finishing a respectable 19th in the standings in his freshman year, Jones returned to JGR for 2018.
In his 18th race behind the wheel of the No. 20 Toyota, Jones won at Daytona International Speedway and advanced to the Playoffs. The next year, Jones won his first of two victories at Darlington Raceway—and qualified for the Playoffs again.
But Gibbs had a different plan for the No. 20 ride after the 2020 season. At 24, Jones was displaced. While he found a new home in the No. 43 Chevrolet, the team has gone through three iterations of ownership—Richard Petty Motorsports, Petty GMS Motorsports and as of January 2023, Legacy Motor Club.
For the last two seasons, crew chief Dave Elenz has called the shots for Jones’ team. Elenz honed his skills under the tutelage of Chad Knaus on the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team before joining JR Motorsports as a crew chief in 2015. Jones’ fellow Michigander won NXS titles with William Byron and Tyler Reddick before he was recruited by Petty GMS for the 2022 season.
“Last year was a great year for us,” Jones said. “It was Dave’s first year as a (Cup) crew chief. We had struggles here and there, but things were going a lot better. We had more speed, and we were competitive week in and week out.”
Over the last two years, Jones has endured plenty of change. Joining forces with GMS in 2021 offered Jones a teammate—Ty Dillon. Last August, the company named rookie Noah Gragson as Dillon’s replacement. During Champion’s Week at Phoenix Raceway last November, the team introduced seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson to the ownership group—which was rebranded Legacy two months later.
With a relationship established with Elenz from the year before, Jones had something to build on for 2023. The team scored two top 10s in the first 10 races. On May 2, it was announced the company was moving to Toyota for 2024. That has Jones “excited”.
“It’s not really a big change,” Jones said. “I’ve only been away from Toyota for three years. I like where I’m at with the 43 group. I’ve had fun racing with them as a small group. Obviously, we’re staying a smaller group by expanding our resources to where our competition group will get better and better.”
Although the resources afforded LMC next year will be phenomenal, for a team already lacking in manufacturer support from being near the bottom of the pecking order, it’s akin to going through a divorce with Chevrolet.
Just a month after the Toyota news, the No. 43 team was busted for modifying the greenhouse on the Next Gen car. Not only did NASCAR levy a $75,000 fine and one-race suspension for Elenz, Jones was docked 60 points.
“It’s kind of a test of your whole team and what you do as a group,” Jones said. “I don’t think it has changed our relationship at all. We’re all pretty much on the same page of what we need to do better or what we need in our team as a group or what we need to do for the future. That has been great to see. Dave has done a good job as a crew chief and also as a leader.”
Still, the challenges keep coming. Jones had an average finish of 12.57 over the seven races leading into the Indianapolis Grand Prix—a week after his teammate Gragson was suspended for actions detrimental to the sport and subsequently fired from LMC.
Josh Berry and Mike Rockenfeller have filled in over the last four races. Carson Hocevar will drive the No. 42 Chevy this weekend—but Jones would like to have a permanent teammate “sooner than later.”
“We’ve briefly talked about it,” Jones said of his conversations with management. “Obviously, it’s always changing at this point of the year. But you want to get something done as soon as you can—at least from my side of things to know who I’m going to work with and get to know them a little bit.
“I think that side is important. Building a good relationship and getting the 42 on solid footing. We want to have a team next year that’s helping the 43 and the 43 helping the 42. So figuring out the 42 is important to me.”
Off the track, Jones solidified the relationship with his long-time girlfriend—now wife—Holly Shelton. The couple was married on August 2 in Jones’ hometown just prior to the race weekend at Michigan Speedway.
“We were looking forward to that day for a long time—not that long, it wasn’t even year between the engagement and the wedding,” Jones said with a smile. “Holly did a ton of the planning. You want everything to go well. You want everybody to have fun.
“I felt like it was perfect. We had a great weather. Everybody made it up and everything went super smooth during the day. It was fun to have everybody there.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
