With debate heating up over the influx of road course events in the NASCAR Cup Series, Erik Jones has made it clear where his loyalties lie. While some drivers, like Christopher Bell, have embraced the variety, Jones leans hard on his roots, specifically calling for a greater emphasis on intermediate ovals.
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Speaking ahead of Sonoma, the Legacy Motor Club driver didn’t mince words when asked about the current six road course events. Jones said, “I would love to do a couple a year. I was totally happy running here and at Watkins Glen. I don’t know. I’m probably not the right guy to ask. I grew up as an oval racer. I didn’t race a road course till 10 years ago for the first time.”
Jones didn’t shy away from critiquing the Next Gen car’s performance either. He continued, “My opinion is this car is not, just hasn’t put on as good of a show on road courses that the old car did, to be frank.
“I think it is fun to go to different places, but I could see us doing here, Watkins Glen, and one street course. I think you would be hard-pressed to find many that wouldn’t agree with that.”
The No. 43 driver doubled down on his preference for mile-and-a-half ovals. “We know where this car puts on good races, the mile-and-a-half stuff is great, there is plenty of those tracks that we can go back to that are sitting there and primed to race, so I would love to go back to some of those,” he stated.
Jones’ stance is backed up by stats too. His best average finish (13.9) does come at intermediate ovals, specifically the two-mile long ones. On the other hand, his reservations over road courses are underlined by a much-worse average finish of 19.8 while racing there.
While last season proved to be a struggle, Jones has stepped up this year with two top-five finishes and another top-10, all on either intermediate or superspeedway circuits.
His teammate, John Hunter Nemechek, has notched six top-10s, including one top-five this season, adding weight to Legacy Motor Club’s resurgence. In the standings, Jones sits in 17th, only four points adrift of Kyle Busch in 16th, with Nemechek holding P20.
