Jones Leads Legacy Charge With Solid Seventh In Nashville

Erik Jones in action at Nashville Superspeedway. (Danny Hansen/Nigel Kinrade Photography_

LEBANON, Tenn. – Both Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek have shared momentum at Legacy Motor Club of late, and Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway, it was Jones taking the lead this time.

Jones posted a seventh-place finish in the Cracker Barrel 400, just his second top 10 of the NASCAR Cup Series season, but his second such result in the past four weeks.

The Byron, Mich., native delivered an impressive performance during Saturday’s practice and time trial sessions, showing significant speed as part of the LMC duo. Jones secured 14th place in single-lap qualifying, starting from the outside of row seven for Sunday’s 300-lap race.

At the end of the day, while the seventh-place finish was still very commendable, it didn’t even fully reflect how strong Jones’ race was, as he steadily climbed the ranks throughout the race.

Running as high as second at one point, Jones sat fifth at halfway and averaged a ninth-place running position for the night, with a plus-five passing differential as well.

His driver rating of 105.7 actually outclassed two drivers that finished ahead of him in the final results – Carson Hocevar (second) and Bubba Wallace (sixth).

Jones, who entered the weekend 27th in the Cup Series point standings, exited the race weekend in Nashville with a better reflection of how much speed Legacy Motor Club has exemplified in recent weeks across the circuit.

“It was a great day,” Jones said. “Ran strong, at times [we were] a top-five car. We lost it a little bit in the end with the Dollar Tree Camry, but have had two good weeks, so I’m proud of that, and hopefully there will be more to come at Michigan.”

Jones’ finish was slightly marred by the fact that on lap 119, after Jones got into the back of the No. 20 Toyota of Christopher Bell – Jones’ prior ride from 2018 to 2020 – the contact sent Bell into the outside wall in turn one and ended Bell’s shot at a strong finish.

“Obviously want to talk to (Bell) because it’s not my intention to go in and wreck him,” Jones reflected. “I got three-wide and he kind of got into me on the straightaway a couple of times, and I was pretty far up on him, so I was like, ‘Okay, he knows I’m there’ … and then he got into the corner again and really just chopped off on me again. I was just trying to get off of him, but I couldn’t.”

Jones led the Legacy Motor Club charge for a second consecutive week, as fellow teammate John Hunter Nemechek struggled all night, scoring a 27th-place finish after the dust settled in the Music City.

The 2015 Craftsman Truck Series champion jumped three spots to 24th in the regular season standings, gaining three spots as the Cup Series ventures back to Michigan Int’l Speedway for the running of the FireKeepers Casino 400.

Jones’ career-best finish at his home NASCAR track is third, achieved in 2017 with the now-defunct Furniture Row Racing team during his rookie season at the sport’s top level.

Coverage of the event from Michigan streams live on Prime Video Sunday, June 8 at 2 p.m. ET, with radio coverage on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.