Erik Jones racing en route to a seventh-place finish in the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo: Yasser Khan | The Podium Finish)
LEBANON, Tenn. — Erik Jones and his No. 43 team flexed their muscles in Sunday evening’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, running toward the front for the duration of the race before finishing in seventh place.
After starting in the 14th position, Jones held his own inside the top 20 during Stage 1. By Stage 2, he drove up to finish fifth in the stage, earning six additional points on the day. During the final stage, it was much of the same, and Jones brought home a seventh-place finish.
“I think our mile-and-a-half stuff has been pretty good all year,” said Jones following the race. “I feel like it is a matter of we (as a team) have to put it together. Today was a good day of putting it together.”
Erik Jones sitting in his No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Camry during the qualifying session before his run on Saturday for the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo: Yasser Khan | The Podium Finish)
1.5-mile style tracks have been a strong suit thus far in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season for Jones and his No. 43 team. He scored his first top 10 of the season three weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway and has a pair of top 15 runs at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
With how close the points battle is throughout the entire field, but especially in the mid pack, Jones was able to climb to 24th in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings following the race, officially qualifying for the In-Season Tournament, which has the first “seeding” race this weekend. Which is also a big motivation factor for the No. 43 team, with a lot of opportunities to get into the playoff hunt in the upcoming stretch of races. A big reason for the result Jones cited was due to being mistake-free, but he thinks there is still some more speed to squeeze out of his Legacy Motor Club Toyota.
“We didn’t have any mistakes,” he said. “It’s just cleaning everything up and continuing to improve on these cars. Like at the end (of the race) there, that was all we had. Our balance was pretty good, so we still need to get a little faster. We are getting there.”
Erik Jones on track at Nashville Superspeedway in his No. 43 car during the practice/qualifying session for the Cracker Barrel 400. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
Through 14 races, Legacy Motor Club has been off to a much smoother start this season with Jones and his teammate John Hunter Nemechek, who currently sits 22nd in the standings. This, mixed with the good runs over the past few weeks, starts to create some momentum for the No. 43 team as the push to the playoffs begins.
Next weekend, the series heads to Michigan International Speedway for race No. 15 of the season, which will be a hometown race for Jones, who’s a native of Byron, Michigan.
In his past NASCAR Cup Series starts, he’s had success at his home track, scoring one top five and three top 10 finishes in 12 career starts at the speedway, which include a 15.3 average finish and a best finish of third in 2017.
“The mile-and-a-halves are our strong suit, so hoping we have more of it in Michigan (International Speedway),” Jones said. “That would be a fun one to be up front again.”
