“You’re still a winner to me,” said Legacy Motor Club owner Jimmie Johnson after his driver, Erik Jones, was stripped off his Daytona Duel win in 2025. Jones crossed the finish line first but was awarded 2nd because he was just behind Austin Cindric during a very late caution flag. That support from Johnson mattered, and it does even more now. Jones, who signed a multi-year extension with Legacy Motor Club in 2024, has three Cup wins under his belt, but 2025 hasn’t been kind so far—no top-10s and a recent DQ that stings.
Now, believe for a minute that you’re Erik Jones, a driver for Jimmie Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club, and you’re already having a rough day at Martinsville Speedway. The race wasn’t your best, finishing 24th after a decent fifth-place run in the first stage—and then, boom, the knockout punch hits. Your No. 43 Toyota gets disqualified for failing to meet NASCAR’s minimum weight requirement. A tough day just turned into a nightmare, stripping away 18 precious points and dropping you from 21st to 29th in the standings. It’s the kind of moment that could break a driver, but Jones? He’s opening up about it with a raw honesty that’s hard not to admire.
Erik Jones is feeling bad for his team after his Martinsville DQ
Erik Jones’ penalty was a slap on the face for Legacy Motor Club. The team has gone through a slew of changes over the last few years, trying to find a foothold in the Cup Series. Despite getting two top-10 finishes at the Daytona 500, their results since then have been less than appealing, with just one top-10 finish since. After the Martinsville DQ, Jones was distraught, but accepted that such incidents were just a part of racing.
Speaking to Frontstretch, Erik Jones said, “Yeah, not a great race for us anyways. You know, it’s only, I don’t know, three times ever I’ve been probably thrown out somewhere. One other one has been in cups, so that’s not ideal. You know, it’s two-sided. I mean, it’s an area everybody pushes. We obviously went too far, but at the end of the day, you know, we’re in it together. There’s days I make mistakes, and there’s days the team makes mistakes, and unfortunately, you know, Sunday was one of those days, so just have to work to fix it, make sure it doesn’t happen again and, you know, just learn from it.” He’s not pointing fingers but sharing the weight of his emotional baggage. Jones’ only other Cup Series DQ was at Richmond in 2019, so naturally, he didn’t take the heartbreak too personally.
Instead, Erik Jones gave an honest admission of his emotions as a driver after getting disqualified. It’s obvious that he has nothing to do with the minimum weight not being met, so Jones humbly added, “Yeah, it’s easier, I think, when sometimes it’s not your fault, right? This was on the 43 group, and that’s tough, right? For anybody. It’s a little bit easier to move on as a driver when it’s something that you didn’t do, right?. It’s not like I made a mistake or wrecked. I think we all dwell on that a while. But you’ve got to just put it in the bank. Everybody’s going to make mistakes on the team. Unfortunately, it was just one that cost us pretty big.”
“I think we kind of know … what happened and why it happened, so, definitely in place not to happen again.” –@Erik_Jones on the DQ last week at Martinsville.
He also said he can’t comment on the Legacy Motor Club lawsuit.
@soundlink_trent #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/bGtXfSBVd6
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) April 5, 2025
When asked if he’s confident the team can avoid this mess in the future, Erik Jones didn’t hesitate: “I think we kind of know where we were and what happened and why it happened, so definitely in place not to happen again. I’d be shocked if we ever had something like that again, so I think we kind of know what happened and, you know, hopefully it’ll be fun enough for the next one.”
The disqualification on March 30, 2025, sent shockwaves through the NASCAR world. What was more startling was that Legacy Motor Club, co-owned by seven-time champ Jimmie Johnson, didn’t even appeal the penalty. Instead, they owned it. “We understand NASCAR allows a clear margin to account for the difference in pre- and post-race weight,” the team said in a statement. “After a thorough audit by the CLUB today, we have concluded that we did not give ourselves enough margin to meet the post-race requirement. Although it was not intentional, we are taking steps internally to prevent this from happening again.” It’s a humble admission with no excuses, just accountability.
Despite the Martinsville disqualification, Jones is ready to keep pushing, heartbreak and all. And if you remember that quote from Rocky Balboa, “It ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”. And Jones’s already dusting himself off.
Jones is banking on patience to achieve his goals
Erik Jones’ story is all about patience, grit, and chasing growth—both for himself and his team at Legacy Motor Club. A 16-year-old kid from Byron, Michigan, beating two-time champ Kyle Busch in the 2012 Snowball Derby. That was Jones, racing with his family team, no big NASCAR path in sight. “All of a sudden, it was kind of just game on,” he said, looking back. That win flipped the switch when Busch signed him for five Truck Series races, and Jones won at Phoenix in his fifth start.
Fast forward to 2025. Erik Jones has been in the Cup Series for almost ten years, and he’s learned one big lesson: patience. “I think everybody who probably gets to the Cup Series has won a lot of races at some point and is probably very fast, but you have to learn a ton of patience at the Cup level,” he told WRUF. The long races, the tough competition, the grind of a 500-mile run—it’s not easy. “You have to have a lot of patience in there and know that the day isn’t always going to go exactly how you want it,” he added. “Getting through those moments where it’s challenging is the most important part.”
This season’s been a rollercoaster for Erik Jones and Legacy. His best finish was 12th at Daytona, but he has seen just one top-15 finish since then. Still, he’s not giving up. The team’s been through big changes—new manufacturer (Chevrolet to Toyota), new people—and Erik sees it paying off. “We went through a really big change at Legacy, between the manufacturer and adding people,” he said. “Everybody’s just kind of learning these new processes that’s been put in place. So all that, I think, is starting to pay off.”
What’s next, you ask? Erik’s got his eyes on the playoffs. “I think if we made the playoffs this year, it would be a huge success,” he admits. “If we could really dial in here and figure out a way to point our way in or win our way in, even better.” As he steps into Darlington with playoff ambitions in mind, he also has a heartfelt tribute to a legend of the sport plastered on his #43 Toyota.
This weekend at Darlington, he’s rolling out a throwback scheme honoring John Andretti, raising awareness for colorectal cancer through his Erik Jones Foundation. That’s the kind of heart he brings to the track. Erik Jones is not just racing for wins—he’s growing, pushing, and believing in something bigger. “This year, we’ve been closer to where we aren’t really thrashing on changes through practice, we’re able to make some longer runs and learn more about our car,” he says. It’s not perfect yet, but you can feel the hope in his words. And honestly, that’s what keeps us rooting for him. Isn’t it?
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