Toyota GAZOO Racing – Erik Jones & Will Rodgers
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
SONOMA, Calif. (July 12, 2025) – LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver Erik Jones and spotter Will Rodgers were made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Sonoma Raceway.
ERIK JONES, No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
WILL RODGERS, spotter, No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
How did this deal come together?
JONES: “When we hired Will (Rodgers) on for the 43, he was wanting to do some racing on his own and we had no problem with it, but I kind of told him that if he put something together, I would spot for him. I kind of figured that – not that he wouldn’t put something together – but it would never work out that I would spot for him. He got to putting together this deal for the 70 car, which he spots for on a weekly basis, and I said – well, I guess we are going to do it. I haven’t spotted in, I don’t know, 12 years – and never done it as the main spotter at a NASCAR race. Just always done some second spotter stuff, so here we are. Now we are doing it – a few hours away.”
RODGERS: “Yeah, Erik (Jones) actually signed up to do it. I thought it would take a little bit more convincing. Where were we – Kansas or something – and I said I think there is a good chance I’m going to race Sonoma, so you are going to do this thing right? And he said yeah, and I was like, I’m going to hold you to it. Now here we are. I’m glad it came together, and I’m thankful to LEGACY MOTOR CLUB to let me do this. Really, really enjoy my new role at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, spotting for Erik. Between he, myself and Ben Beshore (crew chief) – I feel like we make a really good team, super chill and I think we stay really focused, which is awesome. I’ve gotten used to being a spotter full time – it is a pretty cool gig. I’ve really, really learned to like it. It’s great but really cool to have Erik spot for me this weekend in my return to Sonoma.”
What is the main difference between a main spotter and a second spotter?
JONES: “It is actual a little unique here. I’m up here in turn one at the top of the hill, and our second spotter is down here looking at turn 11. The only spots you can’t see here from the top of (turn) 1 is turn 11, turn 10 and a little bit down the front straightaway going into (turn) one. I have it kind of easy – I don’t have worry about pit road or the restarts – that is all on the second spotter this week. It is a little different each road course based on where you can see and where you decide to stand as the main guy, but for me, I’ve got probably less duties than the main spotter this week other than checking in, is my main duty.”
Is it like riding a bike?
JONES: “No, not really. Practice started yesterday. I’ve never spotted on a road course, well, I did some a little bit – not much. So, when Will (Rodgers) rolled out – just took some time to get the timing down – how fast the cars were coming. I’ve never spotted for Will, so I wasn’t sure how he liked to get up to speed or how fast he would get up to speed and Will hasn’t been in a car for a bit, especially a Xfinity car – so there is a lot of unknowns, so the first five laps was just kind of figuring that out, and then by the time he went out, second and third time in qualifying, I was starting to get more comfortable with everything. No, not like riding a bike for me, for sure.”
What has it been like for you to comeback to Sonoma?
RODGERS: “It is really cool. I think most of you all know, this is what I would call my home track. I’ve had a lot of success here. This is kind of where my name was made back in 2017, when I raced with Kevin Harvick as my teammate. We had an amazing run. I didn’t have too much expectation for that race, and turns out, I probably should have beat him that day – didn’t end up doing it – but it paid off for me. I felt like most people didn’t know who I was, and overnight, they did. Coming back in 2018, winning was a special thing, but it has been a number of years since I’ve had a NASCAR opportunity here. It has taken some time to find that opportunity, find that support, find that right car, and luckily, like Erik (Jones) said, I spot the 70 full time and when this opportunity came up, I knew I had to jump on it. It is super special to be back here. Sonoma is not the same as it was back in 2018 with the new repave and especially the patches now. It makes it a little unique for me, but super cool.”
As a spotter, can you apply anything you learn today to your race tomorrow?
JONES: “Definitely. You can see a little bit on TV, but when you get a perspective from up top and you are seeing it live, it is way easier to see what is going on. It just kind of interesting to watch with the patches yesterday and there are some bumps here now that there wasn’t before, some patches. I actually picked up a lot – more than I thought I would be standing up there. It has been a long time since I’ve went up to any spotters stand and just watched around one of our tracks. It was good. I thought it was interesting just watching everybody. Today, I’m sure it will be good again to watch him in the race and see him move around and see what parts of the track get slick. You catch so much that you don’t always see on TV, just watching it yourself. I think as a driver – you probably watch different things with different cars than what you see on TV, so I think there will definitely be some stuff to pick up on today.”
What has it been like this week behind the scenes at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB with the tournament battle this weekend?
JONES: “I would love to give you some big play on it, but it has been business as usual. For me, I’m always pretty good about letting the result be what it is. I never go into a race thinking how I want to run, or how I want to finish. I’m just more – run the best race I can run, and then hope the result is going to come with that. So, staying with that. Obviously, is there a last lap and he’s one car in front of me and we are going into turn 11 – yeah, it might be different, but that is going to be a crazy situation. Just run the race and let the result come.”
What have you been learning that you can help Erik with on Sunday?
RODGERS: “I think I’ve been able to share a little bit. Erik (Jones) alluded to the new patches and some to the bumps here. They definitely caught me by surprise yesterday, I think as it did with most people. I was able to share that with him, and obviously, visually, he can see that from up top. Not that this weekend was in hopes of trying to change anything from his perspective or what we are doing necessarily, but I think it could be helpful for in the future with different scenarios for him to know, okay this is what it is like to be a spotter. This track – I feel like road course wise is an easy one, because he can see about 80 percent of the track, so I didn’t throw you in the deep end, like totally (laughter), but it still gives that perspective of being almost 30,000 ft. I feel like I’ve been able to help a little bit, and I hope he feels the same way, and today’s race will help for tomorrow as well. Things that I learn myself too, I think will help with our program tomorrow.”
What is it like with the reconfigurations and repave?
JONES: “Yeah, the repave was different last year and the racing quite a bit. I think it has aged quite a bit in a year, but that patches are super unique out here. This place was always really smooth before the repave, and it’s funny – we’ve done a repave – and I think it is a lot rougher than it ever was, but it will be interesting. I haven’t drove it yet, until this morning, we will get out here. You are asking a lot more out of the car, before it would always be about tire conservation, saving yourself for the end and last year was about a lot more hammer down and all out speed. It will probably be more of a mix this year of having some tire saving in there but also having a lot of compliance and drivability in your car compared to what you normally work on here. We will see. Obviously, our cars are a lot different than the Xfinity cars. We will have to see how they do today, but it is definitely a very different Sonoma.”
How did you land on choosing Will Rodgers as your spotter?
JONES: “I guess there was a few things. We came here last year and Will (Rodgers) did some second spotting for me, and we decided a little bit later that we were going to make a change for spotting for this year. There were a few names on that short list. Talked to those guys. It wasn’t really going to work out, so I started kind of branching out and thinking – who is not in the sport, and not a spotter right now, that I think could be a spotter. Will was kind of at the top of that list. Holly, my wife, actually kind of helped me come up with that. She thought he did a really good job here, and I was like he did. I got to thinking more about it and asked him if he would be interested. I wasn’t sure if it was something Will even would want to do full time, and when I called him, he said yeah, I’ll do the second spotter at every race, and I was like, no, no – I’m talking that you are going to spot every week. He was interested right away. I just thought his temperament and being a driver – he has a good clear voice on the radio, which I think is important. Just felt like with him being a younger guy too – it is a little bit easier to mold Will into what we wanted. It is not like he had a long history of spotting, where he was kind of set in his ways, and wouldn’t want to adapt. I thought we could kind of build Will into what we need and what I need as a spotter.”
Will the date change for this race weekend change any part of the race?
JONES: “I don’t know with the repave if it is going to change it too much. It was super-hot yesterday, but today and tomorrow looks like it will be way cooler than what we’ve ran here in the past. I think it will be different in that aspect. This place gets really slick in the heat for sure. I don’t know – it will be interesting to see how much tire we have to save. I don’t have a great feel yet, not being out there, how hard it is still on tires here, but with it being so relatively cool for a race here, I think it is going to be really different than we’ve had in years.”
In the last stage of the race tomorrow, are you going want to know want to know where John Hunter Nemechek is?
JONES: (laughter) No, probably not. I didn’t think or know where Ricky (Stenhouse, Jr.) was all day, and then I drove it into the wall and I kind of thought we gave that up, and then we crossed the finish line and it wasn’t a very good day, and the first thing Ben (Beshore, crew chief) says is well, we beat the 47 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) and I was like, okay, that is cool. (laughter) I don’t know how. I will want to know right after for sure, if I’m not aware of where he is at. But he doesn’t need to let me know.”
RODGERS: “If we are two or three back from him, coming down to it, I may say something. (laughter).”
Do you have a feeling of how many road courses should be on the schedule?
JONES: “I would love to do a couple a year. I was totally happy running here and Watkins Glen. I don’t know. I’m probably not the right guy to ask. I grew up as an oval racer. I didn’t race a road course till 10 years ago for the first time. My opinion is – this car is not, just hasn’t put on as good of a show on road courses that the old car did, to be frank. I think it is fun to go to different places, but I could see us doing here, Watkins Glen and one street course. I think you would be hard pressed to find many that wouldn’t agree with that. We know where this car puts on good races – the mile-and-a-half stuff is great – there is plenty of those tracks that we can go back to that are sitting there and primed to race, so I would love to go back to some of those.”
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