Toyota Racing – Erik Jones
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
DARLINGTON, S.C. (August 31, 2024) – LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver Erik Jones was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway.
ERIK JONES, No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
Can you talk about the Southern 500 and what this race means to you and to our sport?
“I think it’s become a more and more important weekend. I guess for me, I remember as a kid watching the race. It got a little bit distorted for a few years with some dates and where it kind of fell on the schedule and it’s become pretty cemented back into Labor Day weekend as it’s probably rightful place in the schedule and in the sport. I look forward to it every year. Obviously, I probably have some bias there, but it’s just a neat race. A neat weekend. They pack the house usually every time we come here – just kind of a fun one to be a part of.”
Can you talk about your confidence coming into Darlington and being able to win and advance into the Playoffs this weekend?
“It’s just been a long year. A lot of different reasons, but if you told me I could pick one (race) other than a superspeedway, I’d pick Darlington to try and go win. Definitely some confidence in that. I think any time you come to a place where you’ve had success a couple of times with different groups, you have the notes to dive into and just that confidence of feeling like you know how to get around the place and knowing what you need to do. I’m excited about that. It’s not going to be easy by any stretch. This is a tough race in a lot of ways, but I think we have a good plan of knowing what we need out of our race car, knowing how we need to manage the race, and knowing what we need to do to be in position. So, we need everything to go right, but I think it’s a great shot for us for sure.”
How important is today to be successful in tomorrow’s race?
“I think this is one where you target maybe a little bit different feel in practice than what you’re probably looking for in the race. It’s going to be pretty hot the middle of the day. We don’t start the race until 6:30 at night. It’s already going to be sun going down, cooling down and then obviously by the end of stage one, you’re going to be completely covered in dark. For me, I’m looking for different feel. I can kind of put some things to the side that you feel today during practice and put them to the side just because it’s a hot, slick track (today) and you’ve got to pick out, ‘Okay, we’re not going to have to worry about that tomorrow and let’s just focus on this part of the corner.’ So, that’s kind of unique to here. The only other race that I can think of that’s similar to that is Charlotte with the 600 going into the night and practicing during the day like that. It definitely goes through a big transition when it cools down. This race is so different than the spring race too with it being at night this place changes so much when it comes to temperatures. That makes it fun. Gives you something to kind of guess for and I think that’s the fun part of racing sometimes.”
Do you think this being the end of the regular season will change the aggression of drivers on the track during the race?
“In some ways. I think Darlington is a bit of a unique one. There’s not a lot of places that we go anymore where you race the track a lot. A lot of it is now that you’re fighting with other competitors and fighting for track position. There’s some of that here. You have to be up front. You do race the rack a lot more here probably than anywhere else we go. You kind of settle in. You get through that first I don’t know eight laps of a run where it’s kind of you’re in the hornets’ nest and then you’re settling into your groove and trying to manage your run, manage your car and you can kind of pick people off one at a time. You know, if the race stretches long and you have a green run to the end, I don’t think you’re going to see anything different. Where it will get crazy, if it happens, is all of the late yellows. And we see that in the spring too right. If you get some late yellows stacked up at the end which is a little bit more rare at the Southern 500 for some reason, you don’t see it. But if that happens, I definitely think you’ll see more aggression.”
Are you conscious of the 16 Playoff drivers and what you need to accomplish to get into the Playoffs and how do you balance that?
“I think if somebody told you they didn’t think about it they’re probably lying. I think we all do. I’ve been in the spot in the Playoffs where you’re hoping for that extra bit respect and 90% of the time, I think you get it. Maybe not the first round – the round of 16 – but when you start squeezing down to the guys in the Round of 8 and the Round of 4, those last few six races of the season, I feel like you start to see a bit of a change in the way you race some of those guys and no doubt at Phoenix at the end for the championship, there’s no way I would want to wreck a championship contending guy in Phoenix. So, yeah, it changes a little bit depending on how competitive you are in the race. Obviously, if you’ve got a car that can go and win the race you can’t just give up a win for them. But if you’re running 10th, battling a guy who’s in championship contention at the end of the year, you’re probably going to give him an extra break and I think most of the field would have to agree with that.”
Do you hope you’d get that kind of respect if you were in the Playoffs?
“100%. I think a lot of the sport is what comes around goes around, right? All the way from what you do on pit road – if you’re a guy who’s running 28th and you’re on the lead lap and you’re pitting ahead of a guy who’s running second and you choose to block him in just so you can get out and screw his day up it’s probably going to come around if he’s on the other end of the stick if you’re running up front. And no different being in the championship. If you give a guy a break who’s running up there and is contending, and hopefully he remembers that. I feel like I try to race everyone really fair, and you just hope that comes around. I know not everybody has that same mentality right, but you just hope that it swings around. I hope we’re contending for wins and championships one day and I hope that we get that same respect for sure.”
What has this year been like in terms of expectations?
“I think the transition has been harder than what we anticipated. I would think we would all have thought by this point we would be in a better spot than what we are right now. Obviously, it’s been a tough year for me with the injury and not that it put me way behind but missing a couple of races isn’t great for the team, it isn’t great for me. Getting comfortable again and changing everything in the car isn’t easy. I think there’s a lot of things that have put us behind the eight ball. I guess my opinion on it all is that I just re-signed, and I wouldn’t have re-signed if I think we’re going to go continue to perform the way we are. It’s not what I’m interested in in racing right? I want to go out and run upfront. WE all do. And the same for LEGACY. For me, it was just the fact that I do believe we’re going to improve. It’s for sure taking longer than we hope. There’s nobody in the company that would argue against that. We are working hard to get better, and we hope that within the next six months – discounting the off-season – that we’re performing a lot better than what we are now.”
How is the repave in turn 2 since it was done three years ago?
“I’ll let you know in a little bit. I think it’s more aged even from the spring, right? Just another summer of it. It’s way less than it was. I’d say the first time we came here with that pass you had to be in it, and it was narrow. There were not two lanes in it. I’ve noticed in the last maybe two races, there’s probably been a bit wider. You can’t be as aggressive on that exit being high like some guys are as what we were in the past before, but it’s getting back there pretty quick. You definitely haven’t been able to run that low line easily where you kind of enter on the apron, go up the middle and exit on the apron. That hasn’t really been there because that patch has been so good. I think if it’s not all the way back for this race, a year from now I think it will be.”
Can you talk about where you can be aggressive on this track?
“Yeah, it’s a fine balance. I think a lot of your speed is made in (turns) one and two and in some ways that’s the more aggressive end. You’re carrying way more speed there, especially on new tires. So, you setup a lot of passes in one and two – it’s hard to make a pass down in (turns) three and four. So, you’re trying to setup your pass kind of in the exit of four and complete it into one or through the middle of one and two. So, that’s kind of your aggressive zone. It’s easy to get frustrated in the race. You see these wrecks happen a lot. Guys trying to get around someone and they start pushing a little bit harder and a little bit harder and all of a sudden either they’re wadded up or they’re both wadded up just because the track doesn’t have the grip in it. You really can’t make those crazy moves, those aggressive moves. I think definitely (turns) one and two are more aggressive corners especially with the way the line goes sometimes. You see Denny and Tyler running a lot where they get really wide on entry and wide on exit and that’s not a super easy line to run. It’s definitely an aggressive line so I’ve always thought one and two is more aggressive.”
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