NASCAR
Erik Jones DQ’d For Infraction In NASCAR Cup Series Race, And His Team Won’t Even Bother To Appeal
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
Get to know Jared Turner betterPublished31 Mar 2025
An already less than stellar season for Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones just got a whole lot worse.
After finishing 24th in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, Jones received some bad news.
How bad was it?
Let’s dig into the details.
Erik Jones Finds Himself In Points Hole After NASCAR DQ
Despite not having the best of days at Martinsville, Jones initially seemed to be in position to leave the Virginia short track in decent shape. No, he didn’t get the finish he wanted, but he took the checkered flag fifth in the first stage and appeared poised to salvage a decent overall points day.
All that changed after the race, however, when Jones and his team co-owned by seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson learned that their No. 43 Toyota had flunked post-race inspection.
The infraction? Pretty simple: The car failed to meet NASCAR’s minimum weight requirement. Thus, the disqualification. So, instead of NASCAR crediting Jones with a 24th-place finish, the sanctioning body dropped him to 38th and last in the final running order by virtue of his disqualification.
Now, instead of leaving Martinsville 21st in the standings, Jones is saddled all the way down in 29th. That means an even taller hill to climb to reach the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs — a feat Jones has failed to accomplish in four previous seasons with his current team.
Being disqualified and losing points might not have been the worst part for Jones, though.
Erik Jones DQ’d for failing to meet minimum weight. Here are the updated results from Martinsville: @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/ItSSyAvnf4
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 31, 2025
Acknowledging It Made A Mistake, Legacy Motor Club Is Accepting Erik Jones’ DQ
As bad as Sunday’s outcome stunk for Erik Jones, a decision his team made on Monday might have stunk worse. That decision — to not appeal to NASCAR to overturn the disqualification — means Jones has no chance of getting his points back or having his original finishing position restored.
In explaining why it won’t appeal, Legacy Motor Club also admitted fault.
“We understand NASCAR allows a clear margin to account for the difference in pre- and post-race weight,” the team said in an official 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. We therefore accept the penalty and apologize to NASCAR, our partners and our fans.”
A three-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner, Jones has struggled since losing his ride with Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of 2020 and joining his current team — which rebranded as Legacy Motor Club when Johnson became co-owner at the end of 2022.
Since taking over the iconic No. 43 car in 2021, Jones has been to Victory Lane just once — at Darlington Raceway the following year. In the two full seasons since the team became known as Legacy Motor Club, Jones has finished 27th and 28th in points, respectively.
And after Sunday’s disqualification and Monday’s decision not to appeal, he’s on pace to rank even worse when the dust settles on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
