A bad day in a bad start to the season got even worse for Erik Jones at Martinsville Speedway last weekend.
First, the Legacy Motor Club No. 43 finished 24th but then NASCAR announced that they failed post-race technical inspection for exceeding the minimum weight requirements set by the Sanctioning Body.
As a result, Jones was relegated to last in the final running order and received just a single point for starting the race.
“Not a great race for us anyways,” Jones conceded during his media availability on Saturday at Martinsville. “It’s like only the third time I’ve been thrown out somewhere, one other was in Cup, so that’s not ideal.
“It’s two-sided. It’s an area that everyone pushes and we obviously went too far. At the end of the day, we’re in it together. There are days I make mistakes and there are days the team makes mistakes and unfortunately, Sunday was one of those days so it was important to fix it so it doesn’t happen again and learn from it.”
Jones was already 24th in the championship standings but the single point day at Martinsville drops him to 29th and 51 points out of a playoff spot. It’s third season in a row now that Jones hasn’t been where he expects to be in the No. 43 car, which is now a Legacy Motor Club entry, after having won the Southern 500 with what was then Petty GMS Racing in 2022.
This time, however, teammate John Hunter Nemechek has shown speed no doubt making it more frustrating that Jones hasn’t been competitive while also being dealt a hand like this not of his own making.
The team announced this week that it would not appeal NASCAR’s disqualification.
“I think we know where we were, why it happened, and where it happened,” Jones said. “Definitely something in place to make that not happen. I would be shocked if it happened again. I think we know what happened and it will be buttoned up for the next one.”
And all things equal, Jones said he has digested this pretty easily, because it wasn’t on him … not that he is holding it against crew chief Ben Beshore or car chief Austin Pollak.
“It’s easier when it’s not your fault, right,” Jones said. “This was on the 43 group, and that’s tough right, but it easier to swallow when it’s not something I did because I will dwell on my mistakes or when I wreck. You just have to put it in the bank and know that everyone is going to make mistakes on the team and this one unfortunately cost us pretty big.”
