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Erik Jones On The Verge Of Battling For Final Playoff Spot After Top-Five Finish At EchoPark Speedway

by racerx55 June 30, 2025 0 comments

Story and Photo By Christian Koelle

On Saturday night at EchoPark Speedway, Erik Jones put his name in the picture to earn his first victory of the 2025 season and helped continue Legacy Motor Club’s run of improvement they’ve had this season.

Saturday’s top-five finish in the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart by Jones was his second of the season, the most of the three Legacy Motor Club cars, and his most since 2022. The top-five finish didn’t come easily as the No. 43 was in two accidents Saturday. 

“After tonight, to come back and run fifth – we wrecked twice, once on my own and the big wreck at the start – I’m happy with the speed our Dollar Tree Camry team had,” Jones said.

Jones added, “It has been a lot of fun to race. It was kind of a weird start – we had to make a lot of changes to the car to fire off, but just proud of the effort, really proud of what we are doing right now. We’ve made a big climb in points, and we are still going. If we can keep making it better, we are right at the cusp. We are one good step away from really being contenders, and I hope we can take that step.”

Following his fifth-place finish Saturday, it culminated in a seven-week run that has put the No. 43 into the playoff picture, moving up from 30th to 18th. In the last eight races, Jones has finished outside the top 15 twice (32nd at Kansas and 17th in Mexico). He’s tallied 221 points since Texas and earned a lead lap finish in seven of the eight races. 

“If we can do this, for sure,” said Jones. “It is going to take some perfect races, but we’ve been doing that. We haven’t gotten the finishes here and there, but we have gotten a lot of stage points through the day and ran well. If we can get some stage points and get the finishes like this, there is no reason we can’t. Would love to get a win. I thought we had a shot at the end. I just ran out of time, but nice to be in contention for it. I’m getting amped up, running up front and having fun.”

A solid night at Echo Park Speedway was just what was needed for the Legacy Motor Club team. If the team can put away a solid string of races throughout July, they could be pushing to play spoiler in the playoffs. With the series headed to Chicago this weekend, Jones is going to have to be on his toes as his previous performances at Chicago have left much to be desired, with a 29th-place finish last season and a 16th in the inaugural race on the streets of Chicago. 

“Road courses have been up-and-down for us, so hopefully they are good the next two, but looking forward to it, either way,” Jones said.