Erik Jones had spent much of the first half inside of the top-10 on Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway but that run derailed due to what he perceived as a continued ordeal with Chase Briscoe that culminated with the final restart.
Both drivers were racing for eighth when they got three-wide with Bubba Wallace, who slipped up into Jones and knocked the Legacy Motor Club No. 43 Toyota into the wall.
Jones likely bent a toe link and it slowed his car to the point that he finished seven laps off the pace. In real time, crew chief Dave Elenz even told Jones that ‘we have taken enough shit from (Briscoe) all day (and that) we are done with that one.’
The implication was that there were numerous incidents leading up to this and Jones told Frontstretch.com after the race that he felt they needed to have a conversation about it.
“No. 14 (Briscoe) is dragging us down over and over, restart after restart,” Jones told Frontstretch. “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.”
When told what Jones said after the race, Briscoe appeared surprised by the animosity and told a small group of reporters that he would accept a 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.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.