TOYOTA RACING – Erik Jones
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
KANSAS CITY (April 18, 2026) – LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver Erik Jones was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Kansas Speedway.
ERIK JONES, No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
How are you feeling about your season?
“I think we’re kind of in the middle where we want to be and where we are, but we’ve had some performance that – we haven’t gotten the finishes necessarily the last couple of weeks. We’ve been caught in some wrecks, so we’ve been getting some okay points, and keeping at least in the fight of getting in the Chase. We will keep battling and keep getting our cars better. Excited to see where we stack up again on a mile and a half. I didn’t think Vegas was great for us, but we made some good changes, I think, and some big changes to see where they’re going to put us this week, and we’ll see what we have here this afternoon.”
This is obviously a big, big weekend for your sponsor, AdventHealth. What are you doing around being the entitlement partner for the Cup race?
“Yeah, it’s great. I’ve been with them for coming to, I think, three or four years now, and they just spent a great partner to me. We expanded our partnership a little bit more this year. They had a few more races. Kansas is obviously a big market for them with the race entitlement, as well as a bunch of hospitals in the area here and support around the area. I’ve done a lot of work with them, with my foundation, and things they support, and what they’ve done for me. So, enjoy that relationship and hope we can get a good run for him. Be nice to get him up front and get them challenging for a win.”
What’s made this place so challenging for you in recent years?
“Getting crashed (laughter). I think I’ve been wrecked here over and over it feels like. The restarts are really chaotic, and we’ve got caught up on some incidents. I think last fall, we avoided them and ran maybe 13th or 14th, but I don’t know, our performance just hasn’t been great even beyond the wrecks, really. We just need some more pace, we haven’t really had that, I don’t think. We’ve qualified okay. But honestly, qualifying is just a test of who wants to hold it wide open a little bit, and not necessarily maybe your car. I think the race is showing some of our weakness, just not having speed on the long runs. That’s been our biggest challenge, I think, is the migration we went through. Mostly you’re fighting going extremely free on the long runs, and that’s kind of held us up from some better runs, I feel like.”
You’ve had some changes in the organization lately with Michael Guttilla, as the new president, and Darius Rucker becoming a partner. Have you had a chance to meet Michael, and what sort of impact do you think that might have?
“Yeah, I didn’t know him beforehand. But I had a chance to sit down and spend some time with him in the last week and a half. I think he’s a super impressive guy. His resume’s really strong, and he’s done a lot of things, and in motorsports, and in manufacturing and production cars. He has a pretty broad range of skills, and I think he has a lot of managerial skills. I think the role he’s in is great, obviously, but I think he can bring a lot to the table and sense of understanding the engineering side as well. I don’t think he’s a guy that is just well versed in business, but I think he’s well versed in competition and performance. I’m excited to have him. We’ve been kind of waiting to fill that role and find the right guy, and that’s been a role that wasn’t just randomly filled when Michael became available. It was something that’s been in the works, and we’ve been trying to find the right fit for a while. I was excited to do that, excited to have him, and see what he can bring. It’s still super early. It’s been a couple of weeks, but I really, I think his influence is already starting to be felt a bit.”
We almost can’t call Justin Alexander your new crew chief anymore because you guys kind of get further into the season, but what’s the relationship been like?
“Yeah, you get to know each other pretty quickly in competition, and just in week to week, like this, but I think, for me, just, is confidence and calmness on the radio has been nice. I just want somebody who, when they’re going to make a call, they’re going to stick to it, whether that’s good or bad, and just be direct on the radio. No games and back and forth of what maybe we’re doing, what maybe we’re not doing, adjustments we may, may or not be doing. Justin’s (Alexander) usually pretty straightforward with all of that. So, I’ve enjoyed that part of it. I think he’s been a good team leader for the 43 guys. I’ve been with them for a couple of years now, obviously, seeing a change from Ben (Beshore) last year to Justin this year, and I think the relationship there is strong. The season’s just been okay right now for me. I wish there was some races we could have done a bit better, but overall, I think the relationship with Justin, I’ve enjoyed working with him, and he’s been doing a good job during the race, making good changes, so that’s been fun.”
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