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Top-10 finish proves significant for Erik Jones, Legacy Motor Club

AUTO: MAY 13 NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400

DARLINGTON, SC - MAY 13: Erik Jones (#43 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Allegiant Chevrolet) watches the action on pit road during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 on May 13, 2023 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, SC(Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

LEBANON, Tenn. — While Ross Chastain celebrated his first Cup victory in more than a year Sunday night, Erik Jones stood on pit road and enjoyed a top-10 finish at Nashville Superspeedway.

It has been a difficult season for Legacy Motor Club and likely will continue to be. The two-car team of Erik Jones and rookie Noah Gragson had aspirations before the season of being the next Trackhouse Racing — a young team that runs well and contends for wins.

That’s not been the case.

This season has seen Jones’ team penalized, dropping him to 30th in the points, Gragson miss a race because of concussion-like symptoms after a crash and the organization score only three top-10 finishes this year — all by Jones, including Sunday’s eighth-place result.

Legacy Motor Club, co-owned by Maury Gallagher and Jimmie Johnson, is in its final season with Chevrolet before joining Toyota in 2024.

“We’re on a bit of an island right here but still got stuff to learn and try to apply to next year,” Jones told NBC Sports after Sunday night’s race.

For now, Jones, Gragson and Legacy Motor Club will do what they can.

“It’s way harder to hit it every week when you’re out there like that, you’ve got way less to base off of other than your own notes,” Jones said. “We’ve got to rely on our own notes and hope that we’re making the right guesses, hope we’re doing the right stuff.”

That was the case this weekend for Jones and crew chief Dave Elenz. Jones was fourth in practice on Friday.

“I think this is probably the best we’ve hit it off the track in the last two years,” Jones said. “I was pretty confident coming into it, knowing we had a good car.”

His average running position of 13.7 Sunday is his best this season. He’s only had an average running position better than 15th in one other race this season (Las Vegas, average running position of 14.7, finished 19th).

“We want to run well,” Jones said. “There’s nothing else we can do other than to try to go out and do this. Top 10 for us is really good for us right now where we’re at.”

NO SAFER BARRIER WHERE RYAN BLANEY HIT

Ryan Blaney was not happy that a portion of the concrete wall that he hit inside Turn 1 was not protected by a SAEER barrier. Blaney called it the hardest hit of his career and said if he had to, “I’ll pay for the (expletive) thing to put it on there.”

Kyle Busch, who suffered leg and foot injuries when he struck a concrete wall inside Turn 1 at Daytona in a 2015 Xfinity race, lamented that concrete barriers remained.

“We’ve all worked and prided ourselves on safety, and we’ve tried to tell them it doesn’t matter where, you can never cut corners and take a chance on that,” Busch said in response to a question from NBC Sports about Blaney hitting a concrete wall.

“A lot of racetracks have put (the SAFER barrier) all the way around on the infield. Give us a chance, we’re going to be able to figure out a way of hitting something (not protected by a SAFER barrier) some way or another.”

NASCAR must add SAFER barriers after Blaney crash
After Ryan Blaney's crash into concrete in Sunday's Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway, Dale Jarrett says NASCAR must add SAFER barriers to any location accessible to drivers -- and cost shouldn't be a factor.

Said Brad Keselowski: “Sounds like more work to do there.”

NASCAR, which determines SAFER barrier placements and requirements for each track, issued a statement after the race:

“NASCAR safety engineers work closely with safety experts on the implementation of barriers around the track. As we do following every race weekend, we will evaluate all available data and make any necessary improvements.”

During Monday’s MotorMouths, NASCAR on NBC analyst Jeff Burton was adamant about covering concrete walls with a SAFER barrier.

“I do know that NASCAR is committed to safety,” Burton said. “They’ve spent a ton of money and energy into it, but just things like (Blaney’s crash), you just don’t know where they’re going to hit. If it’s got concrete on it, we need a SAFER barrier.”

Brad Daugherty, co-owner of JTG Daugherty Racing and an analyst for NBC Sports, said: “You’ve got to have a SAFER barrier on every inch of concrete or barrier around a racetrack. It’s just unacceptable (not to do so).”

ROSS CHASTAIN PROVES STRONG WHOLE RACE

Two days before his Nashville victory, Ross Chastain said an area he’s struggled with is making the car better throughout the race even when it is good.

“I feel like when we’ve been better throughout the weekend or early in the race, I get kind of complacent because I’m not sure what to tell them,” Chastain said.

Crew chief Phil Surgen was told of Chastain’s comments after the win and didn’t see the matter as dire as Chastain portrayed it.

“He gave us good feedback the whole race, kept us up to date from what he was feeling from the driver’s seat,” Surgen said.

“We have the data. We can validate what he’s saying in the data. Tonight everything made sense. What he’s saying, we’re seeing in the data. There’s never a reason to question it in those moments.”

Chastain led 99 laps and ran either first or second in 154 of the 300 laps. He ran in the top five in 275 of 300 laps Sunday.

Chastain stays cool and calculated at Nashville
Ross Chastain talks about trusting his tools, staying patient, and evolving in order to drive to victory lane at Nashville Superspeedway despite all the noise swirling around him and public criticism.