After a savvy move to the outside on the backstretch, Jones pulled up alongside race leader Austin Cindric and crossed the finish line first.
However, a last-lap caution froze the field roughly 100 feet from the stripe, and Cindric earned the victory because his car was inches ahead at the moment of caution.
“It was crazy, obviously,” said Jones, who will start a career-high fourth in the Daytona 500. “I’ve never been in that situation before. I’ve seen it happen a lot in the sport. But honestly, I didn’t even know the yellow had come out. Obviously, no one knew the yellow came out until later on.”
Jones enjoyed the traditional celebration, but the fanfare was cut short.
“I was definitely pretty excited,” Jones said. “We haven’t had a win as Legacy—and that was going to be our first one—and a nice start to the new year, too. And with AdventHealth, that was going to be their first win as a primary. So there was going to be a lot of neat things with that.
“And then finding out we didn’t win just kind of made things awkward, to be honest. It was an awkward situation for me—and honestly, for Austin (Cindric), who found it kind of awkward, too. It was unfortunate, but the rule is the rule, as tough as that can be sometimes, and you’re not going to change it.”
Still, the 28-year-old racer can take solace in knowing his car is capable of winning the Great American Race. Jones understands what he needs to win at the 2.5-mile track. The Byron, Michigan, native scored his first career Cup win in the 2018 Coke Zero 400.
“We’re just happy to have that speed,” Jones said. “I don’t know if we’ve ever ran the Duels and had that speed in the last few of years and been in contention to win one like that and were happy with how everything worked out and happy with the team.
“And Will (Rodgers) is brand new spotter for me this year. He’s never done a speedway race. To have his first one be in the contention to win was good. A lot of good things from it. As much and we would have loved to have the win, a lot of good things came out of it.”
Jones started his Cup career in 2017. For the last four seasons, he has wheeled the iconic No. 43 car. While that opportunity comes with a lot of pressure, it also affords the young driver unlimited access to team ambassador Richard Petty.
Two years later, when Jimmie Johnson joined the venture, Jones had the ultimate motorsports braintrust at his disposal with two seven-time Cup champions and nine Daytona 500 victories between them.
“It’s all unique—and it’s changed so much since I’ve been in the 43 when I first came over and it was just Richard,” Jones said. “Then Jimmie came on board a couple of years ago. Jimmie has been in the transition to becoming an owner and figuring that world out, and watching that growth has been really impressive. He’s learned a lot through this whole process.
“Definitely leaning on both of them for different things. Richard, obviously, was in the sport at a different time and Jimmie was in the sport at a different time—and I competed against Jimmie and now have him as an owner.
So, I think any time you can glean any advice from them and how they approach the weekends and what their processes were, how they went about things, how their organizations worked when they were successful, I think that’s the most important thing when trying to find our footing and find their way and leaning on them and how they found success.”
While 2024 was a transitional year with Legacy moving from Chevrolet to Toyota, Jones feels the company is making strides.
“Last year at this race, we were quick but we weren’t really in contention during the week to contend for the win,” Jones said. “That’s a good change. Obviously, it’s Daytona. It’s a bit of a wild card. But you never discount being up front and racing for the win.
“You still got to have some speed, and you still have the execution to do it. We have a long way to go as a group, for sure, from where we were last year. And it’s tough to know here starting out with Daytona then Atlanta and then COTA, it’s such an odd schedule to start the year. It’s hard to baseline yourself but nice to know the first race of the year you’re in contention.”
