DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Erik Jones stood on the precipice of the Daytona International Speedway start/finish line, being greeted to the cheers of thousands of NASCAR Cup Series fans.
A smiling, laughing team owner of Jimmie Johnson looked on at him with pride from the pit lane.
Johnson was finally a race-winning team owner.
The 28-year-old Jones had beaten 2022 Daytona 500 Champion Austin Cindric by around a foot to win the second Duel at Daytona race on Thursday night (Feb. 13). It was the first win for not only Legacy Motor Club, but the first for seven-time Cup champion Johnson as a team owner as well.
Erik Jones wins Duel No. 2 at Daytona! pic.twitter.com/nQYNJvtWbP
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 14, 2025
But amid the celebration and warm laughter, the jovial mood was interrupted by a sudden announcement over the speedway intercom.
NASCAR officials declared Cindric the winner. Jones was relegated to second.
Prior to the checkered flag, a multi-car crash erupted behind the front of the field as it was approaching the finish line. While Cindric and Jones raced abreast to one another, four cars went spinning wildly into the infield. It was in that mere second’s worth of time that NASCAR threw the caution flag.
The field was frozen in an instant, and Cindric was barely ahead of the No. 43 Toyota in that snapshot moment. The ruling relegated him as the winner, even though he was behind at the line.
Not so fast. Austin Cindric wins Duel No. 2 at Daytona! pic.twitter.com/kwaWtNW0Vn
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 14, 2025
Confused and frustrated, the boos of the same fans that were cheering moments ago erupted. Among them was Johnson.
The moment Jimmie Johnson found out his driver Erik Jones did not win Duel 2. 👇#NASCAR #DAYTONA500 @Frontstretch pic.twitter.com/CnW4I3jQ75
— Dalton Hopkins (@PitLaneCPT) February 14, 2025
The Michigan native climbed back into his car and nursed it back to pit road. It was the first time the newly rebranded Legacy Motor Club had been on its way to victory lane since its inception in 2023, and the rug had been swept out from under its feet.
Jones, while certainly disappointed, maintained his composure.
“It’s a bummer,” Jones told Frontstretch moments after climbing out. “You get pretty pumped up, and you think you’re the winner and you’re not. I mean, it’s the rules, and that’s their call. It’s a part of it, but yeah, I’ve never been in that spot, so it’s a bummer. Would love to start out with a win.”
Team owner Johnson arrived shortly after, patted his employee on the back and greeted him with, “You’re still a winner to me.”
All the while, a happily confused Cindric high-fived his Team Penske crew. He had finished second in his Duel every year for the last three years during Daytona 500 weekend. For a minute, it looked like it was going to be a fourth runner-up finish.
“That’s the first thing I thought of when the checkered flag came out,” Cindric later said in the media center press conference. “I thought I was second again.”
But upon hearing the opposite, Cindric marched to the start/finish line to retrieve the checkered flag that was almost in the hands of Jones. Alas, no flagman was there to meet him.
“I did go up to get the checkered flag, and the flagman was gone,” Cindric said. “I didn’t get the flag, which was a bummer.”
It was still just as strange to Jones and even the seasoned veteran of Johnson.
“I mean I’ve never been in that situation,” Jones said. “I’ve seen it happen to a lot of guys and felt for them, but it’s definitely a frustrating feeling. I saw the replay as soon as I was waiting out there on the frontstretch, and I wasn’t feeling too good about how it was going to go from there. So yeah, it’s tough.
“You feel like you do everything right and get the pay off of it, and then it kind of gets slipped away from you, so it’s frustrating. I’ll take it tonight over Sunday, for sure. I can’t imagine going through that on the [Daytona] 500.”
Yet despite the frustration, Jones suprisingly still believes the rule should stay the way it is.
“It’s a tough call,” Jones said. “It becomes judgment at that point, right? I mean, in that situation, yeah, it’s easy to say let them race because nobody’s going to slow down at that point, but it’s how far do you push it, right?
“You say, OK, it’s 200 feet, 300 feet. Well then, maybe it’s off [turn] 4, so it gets too much of a judgment call. It’s really got to stay how it is, as frustrating as it is for drivers and fans, I’m sure. But it’s really just out of peer judgment and safety.”
Johnson, the wise racing legend, concurred.
“[I’m] disappointed,” Johnson said to Frontstretch. “But I haven’t seen the video. I know the rule, and if everything is as they say, which typically is, then no big deal. But we certainly had our hopes up for a minute there, and [we’re] a little disappointed.
“I can tell that, you know, he wanted to win, of course. I hate that for he and his team and our sponsors, but it’s a good time for Sunday.”
Jones qualified 36th on Wednesday night (Feb. 13) during Daytona 500 qualifying.
After the Duels, he’ll now start fourth in the Great American Race on Sunday, Feb. 16.
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loudcolumn, co-host of the Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT
There was no one within two miles of the finish line. There was no issue of safety so why couldn’t they race to the finish line. Nascar allowed it many times in the past.
That’s the modern day Nascar
Absolutely no reason for that flag. Absolutely no reason for a lot of things with Nascar.
Agree with you all but, apparently, NASCAR wants to make it automatic, if the yellow comes out you immediately take your foot off the gas pedal. I get it but don’t agree with it.
I feel bad for Jones. Damn if you do, damn if you don’t. It was exciting watching them race to the line. Sucks when the yellow light decides the winner. That’s NASCAR.
The yellow light, but a human behind the button.
Who in their right mind bets on NASCAR races when finishes are decided arbitrarily by a human behind a button?
Just another decision that shows NASCAR is a joke. No reason to throw the yellow there. Let them race to the line, the back half of the field was in the wreck, no one was behind it. Bad decision.
Once again, CRAPCAR shows what an officiating joke they really are. They get worse year in and year out with their rulings that favor their “favorite” teams and Penske just happens to be one of those teams. The idiot that flipped the switch for the caution should have been fired on the spot but more than likely he will get a promotion and a raise…..just more of the same from an organization that is failing day by day.