April 13, 2025
Erik Jones used to be great at Bristol in his early years at Furniture Row Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, when he earned four top fives and led 260 laps from the pole as a rookie in 2017 before finishing second. However, since moving to the No. 43 car (especially after the team name changed to Legacy Motor Club) he has had next to no speed on short tracks anywhere and he's never been more invisible. Even last week at his arguable best track at Darlington, he only improved from 34th to 17th. He qualified a little better at Bristol (28th) and starts alongside the usually much-faster Tyler Reddick, but the only other Toyota he outqualified was his teammate John Hunter Nemechek and the fact that Legacy Motor Club seems to get less Toyota factory support than JGR or 23XI Racing means it's hard to imagine either Legacy Motor Club driver getting a good finish.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
April 6, 2025
Erik Jones will likely be a very popular DFS pick at Darlington on Sunday afternoon. Despite posting the third-fastest lap in practice on Saturday, Jones wasn't able to follow that up with a good lap in qualifying and will start from way back in 34th-place when the Goodyear 400 goes green. That gives daily fantasy players massive Place Differential upside by picking Erik Jones ($7,500) at one of his best race tracks on the schedule. Jones is a two-time Darlington winner and has finished 25th or better in all six Next Gen races here since the start of the 2022 season. Even though Legacy Motor Club has struggled this year, Jones has been serviceable for DFS players, including grabbing a 15th-place finish at Homestead a couple of weeks ago after starting back in 28th (+13 Place Differential points).
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Jayski
March 31, 2025
Erik Jones has never been very successful at Martinsville, and Sunday might have been one of the lowest moments of his career. Not only did he start 31st and finish 24th in a race where his former crew chief Chris Gayle won his first race for Denny Hamlin -- a driver he was ordered not to pass in the 2020 fall event -- but he was disqualified for violating NASCAR's minimum weight rule, even though he didn't seem to gain any speed from it and he was much slower than the other Toyotas were. It's especially painful to get nabbed for a technical infraction without being fast to begin with. The disqualification dropped him to 38th. Although Jones picked up some stage points on strategy at the end of Stage 1, he was also stripped of those, which dropped him from 24th to 29th in points. Unless he wins a drafting-track race, his playoff hopes are likely over.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
March 30, 2025
Erik Jones has never been particularly good at Martinsville, as he has never led a lap and has only earned one top-10 finish in the 2021 fall race. Even in his years with Furniture Row Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, his best finish was a mere 12th twice, and the only thing anyone remembers about him at Martinsville was when he was ordered not to pass Denny Hamlin in 2020 as a lame-duck JGR driver. Now he is with Legacy Motor Club, a Toyota team that has far less speed on short tracks than JGR did, so it's hard to imagine him contending here, especially since his 31st-place starting position is actually the worst of his career here. He was also far off his teammate John Hunter Nemechek, who hasn't been great here, either. This looks like it will be another slow race for Legacy in general, and Jones probably won't gain enough positions for DFS consideration.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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