How Erik Jones’ Recent Injuries in NASCAR Led to His Changed Outlook on In-Car Safety

Erik Jones’ recent outings in NASCAR were curtailed after the 27-year-old suffered an unfortunate accident at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this season. The NASCAR Cup Series regular driver for Jimmie Johnson’s team in the sport hit the outside wall of the 2.6-mile-long facility and suffered a compression fracture in his back. This relegated Jones to sit on the sidelines for the next few events this year.

The #43 Toyota Camry XSE driver returned to competition during last Sunday’s race at Darlington Raceway after a three-week hiatus from driving the Next Gen Cup car.  The Legacy Motor Club driver’s major takeaways from his competitive return last weekend were those of safety improvements in the car rather than a focus on his P19 finish during the 2024 Goodyear 400.

Jones spoke to Autoweek elaborating on the changes that have been long overdue for the NASCAR Cup Series regular inside the cockpit and said, “It’s the first time in eight years I’ve really moved a lot of different things in the car, in how I’m sitting and how I’m positioned. I have changed my seat, some belt angles, and a handful of things that we found that could have been better before the wreck at Talladega.”

He further added to how safe practices inside the car are as crucial as the car itself diverting the impact and added, “I’m sitting in a pretty different position than what I’m used to for almost all of my racing career. It’s been a big learning experience. I think we’ve all learned a lot internally on what we can do better on safety.” How Erik Jones performs this coming weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway participating in a second NASCAR event ever since his injury remains to be seen.

Erik Jones looks forward to a long and storied NASCAR career

Jones certainly took the time to reflect and make changes to extend his viability in the highest echelon of stock car racing after experiencing what could have been the reason for his early exit from the sport.

The Michigan native spoke about how he was cleared by medical personnel to race at Kansas and the #43 driver willingly chose to sit the event out in favor of healing. The Michigan native touched on making his return to NASCAR properly once and for all.

He told Autoweek and elaborated, “I have, hopefully, over a decade left in this sport. That’s a lot of races. You look back and you say, ’What’s really the difference in one or two?’ I want to be in the sport for a long time and not do something right now that’s gonna put me at risk for an early end to my career.”

The LMC driver will be seen participating during this coming Sunday’s All-Star Race as NASCAR prepares to go live from the North Wilkesboro Speedway for a chance at winning the $1 Million prize amount.