Toyota GAZOO Racing – Erik Jones
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
BROOKLYN, Mich. (June 7, 2025) – LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver Erik Jones was made available to the media on Saturday prior to this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
ERIK JONES, No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
Tell us a little bit about your foundation event and what it meant to you to be able to host that here in Michigan.
“Yeah, we’ve been doing a clay shoot the last few years in Charlotte and thought it was time to maybe move and do something different, and brought it up here to Dryden, Michigan, which many of you probably don’t know. It’s a little bit north of here and there’s a nice little huntsman club up there that has a clay course and does a bunch of other stuff. We had our event there yesterday and had great good turnout – had about 70, 80 people and raised some good money. Don’t have a final number from it, yet but yeah, it was a lot of fun. Super cool to have it all in Michigan. A lot of different crowd than what we had in Charlotte – a lot of people I’ve known for a long time, so that was neat to have an event for them up here. I’m just happy with the turnout had had good time.”
What is it about Michigan International Speedway that fits you well and do you feel like the expectations are higher this weekend for you and the team?
“Yeah, I mean the second part, I think expectations definitely higher. I think last year, we didn’t really know, we were not in a not in a great spot. We were just trying to have a good day. This year, I feel like top-10, well at least for me, not sure how everyone else feels but top-10s (are) definitely the expectation for me. Points-wise here, I don’t know, this car is way different here than the old car. We were kind of hit-or-miss in the last generation of car here. We had some good days, had some bad days. This car, I feel like every time, we’ve been pretty good. I feel like it’s more of a drafting type of race. There’s some handling that comes into play and you do need to have your car driving well, and it has to have some speed. But the way you kind of set up your passes and make your runs, you have to be pretty careful and make some good choices on restarts – put yourself kind of in a good position, have a good strategy. I feel like the last couple years, we’ve done really well playing strategy and getting ourselves up front towards the end (of the race). So, I feel like the racing is way different in this generation. Like I said, it’s more of a (pause), it’s not a speedway race, but it’s much closer to the speedway race than it used to be.”
Is there something you’re attributing the recent good finishes to?
“I don’t know that it’s one thing. I think we struggled a little bit at the start of the year, we had some days that should have been better early on in the year and we just didn’t put it all together between either mistakes I made, mistakes the pit crew, made (a) bad call, had something maybe not go right, got caught in a wreck and we saw the No. 42 (John Hunter Nemechek) have some speed too there, so we knew it was in the car. Then, we kind of had some glimmers of hope. We put together a really good race at Texas and then going back a few weeks ago, starting to put some better races together. So Nashville was really the first one that (pause), everybody just did a good job. I feel like I didn’t make mistakes, it felt like the pit crew did a good job. I think they were eighth overall on the day, so their best day by a long shot. We qualified good enough to be up front. So, everything was finally maximized and took advantage of the car we had. I think this mile-and-a-half stuff is where, at least for now, kind of our bread and butter is that. We have to execute on that. We can’t let those days slip by that we can get these good points days. I think it’ll be the same tomorrow. Just got to put it all together.”
Does LEGACY MOTOR CLUB have a game plan on where you want to be now and in a year or so?
“I think we’ve had a timeline the last couple of years and where we want to be as a team. I think that’s probably changed a little bit with last year and the struggles we had, but this year, we’re more on track to be where we want to be. Obviously, the end goal for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB is to be a championship team, right? There’s no other goal than that and obviously, there’s a lot of teams with that goal. But, becoming independent and not having the alliance, that was kind of a step number one, to say ‘look, we want to do this on our own and build this into a top tier program.’ So, it’s a long way to get there, and we have a lot of work to do to get there. We probably should win a race first, but you know the goals are there, and that’s a few years down the road, but I feel like where our performance is at this moment, winning a race in the next 365 days is probably goal number one.”
What was going through your mind in the incident with the No. 20 car last weekend?
“Obviously, I got to the bottom and he (Christopher Bell) got into me once, and I’m like, ‘okay.’ I kind of just assumed now he knows I’m down here, so he’ll just give me the room. And then, he hit us again, so okay, and now I’m just going to stay in here, I’m just not going to lift. After that, I mean, I was like, ‘well, if you just come down again, you’re going to spin out.’ I haven’t talked to (Christopher) Bell. He’s made it known through the grapevine that he felt that it wasn’t my fault, so I didn’t I really want to bring it back up again with him, because like, I don’t really want to wreck you, and I don’t think he wanted to be wrecked either, so it was just one of those racing situations. Yeah, know it was a weird deal, right? He was three-wide and it looked like the No. 22 (Joey Logano) kind of pushed him down the first time and then, I think he probably just got to the where he was caught off guard, getting shoved down and then stuck in the middle and was trying to figure out where to go and ran out of race track. It’s pretty narrow, right? Nashville is not super wide, it’s not like here (Michigan), but yeah, it’s kind of unfortunate. Obviously, he’s a Toyota car, so I don’t really want to wreck anybody, but especially another Toyota, but you know, just one of those weird racing situations it felt like.”
What are your overall expectations going into the Mexico City event next weekend?
“Yeah, it’s going to be interesting. I mean, it’s going to definitely be a lot of work to just get down there. We’ve raced out of the country before in Canada years ago with the Trucks and it was okay. It wasn’t a bad experience in any way, it’s pretty easy. It’s a little bit different now here with the travel, but the track I think is good. It’s pretty unique. There’s some really high speed stuff, some really slow stuff in that stadium section is like 30 mph. So, there’s going to probably be some chaos down there. Overall, it’s hard to put judgment on it because I haven’t done it, so I don’t want to say good or bad. We’re racing (at) a new venue, out of the country. I think the crowd is going to be huge from talking to a handful of people. I don’t know, it’s a little bit hard. Just get there, do it once and see how it goes. To be honest, the travel’s a little overwhelming. I’m not a guy that is super excited about that part of it, but the race, I am looking forward to.”
What makes you so I guess consistent at Pocono Raceway?
“Yeah, I don’t know. Pocono has always been one of my favorite tracks. I went there when I was really young in ARCA. You could race there at 16 (years old), and I did that. I’ve just been going there a long time, have a lot of experience number one, but number two, it’s just a place I was super comfortable at right off the bat. I felt like I understood early kind of how to make speed there. I feel like everybody approaches that track a little bit differently and how they want their car to drive and how they want to make speed there and you know, I kind of have the way that I like to do it and felt like it’s worked for me kind of in everything, Xfinity and Trucks, Cup, ARCA, all of it. I think that’s helped a lot. I feel like this strategy has always worked super well there for me where we end up front. Yeah I think some guys probably aren’t overly comfortable going there with the track and how it drives, but it’s a place that I’ve just always (pause), I think you have those few tracks that you go to that you really like and for me, there’s a few of them and Pocono is on that list for sure.”
Do you really think LEGACY MOTOR CLUB needs to be winning races before potential team expansion would take place?
“At the end of the day, it isn’t my race team. I just drive. But yeah, I would love to see the Cup program be successful and up and going first, 100%. But, that’s my focus, right? I’m the driver of the Cup car and want to see that do well, and I want to run well, so you know, I don’t want to speak to his plans and honestly, I don’t know what Jimmie (Johnson)’s plans are on some of that stuff either. I think he’s done (pause), in the last eight months, we’ve done a great job on the Cup side of things getting to where we want to be. In this moment, we still have work to do going forward to continue this progress and even to stay where we’re currently at. I would definitely love the focus to be on the Cup car, but again, I don’t own the team, and I don’t make those decisions.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In spring 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 31 electrified options.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
