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NASCAR Cup Series Atlanta #43: Erik Jones, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, Dollar Tree Toyota Camry
(Photo: NKP)

The Underdog House: Meet the Underdog Bracket Busters at Atlanta

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Top Dog: Erik Jones

To quote my Frontstretch colleague Caleb Barnes, the NASCAR Cup Series race at the recently re-branded, Atlanta-based track, “felt like a game seven moment,” with Saturday night’s (June 28) main event kicking off the inaugural In-Season Challenge.

Fans were treated to drivers throwing haymakers, a 20-plus-car wreck, and a last-lap walk-off pass by hometown hero, Chase Elliott. Included in that bundle was a list full of underdogs delivering strong runs throughout the top 20, led by Erik Jones, whose recent ascension continued with a fifth-place run.

Firing off from 26th, Jones battled with rear security in the first stage. He got roughed up ever so slightly while avoiding a lap 58 crash, finishing stage one in 31st.

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Then, despite the Atlanta area being threatened by rain for much of the evening leading into the race, the biggest storm of all came in the form of The Big One.

An accordion effect at the front of the field ignited a crash that involved roughly 23 cars, including the No. 43 of Jones. However, he got off lightly compared to much of the competition, allowing the Byron, Mich. native to continue relatively unscathed.

Whatever damage Jones attained set off the afterburners on his ride, as he carved his way into the top 10 before reaching fifth by the end of stage two, collecting six valuable stage points in the process.

Despite flexing some muscle as the track nestled under the lights, a night of adversity wasn’t over when Jones went for a spin on lap 195, snapping loose while running 11th. Fortunately, he spun right out of turn 4, and was able to make it back to pit road quickly.

As intensity and desperation picked up down the stretch, Jones clawed his way back into the top 10. While he was unable to materialize a run at the leaders, Jones passed Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the final corner to land his second top five of the season.

Pick any car in the top 10 during the final stage, and it was likely someone without a win this season. For a driver like Jones who still can point his way into the playoffs, that can be dangerous territory if he’s not the one standing in victory lane. Instead, Elliott was likely the driver Jones and the No. 43 team were rooting for if they couldn’t be the ones celebrating on the frontstretch.

Accordingly, Jones’ rapid ascension into the playoff picture continues, as he sits 18th on the playoff grid, 49 points off the cut line. Eight races ago, he was sitting 30th in points, jumping 15 positions to 15th in the overall standings since that point.

Jones will also continue in the In-Season Challenge, defeating 13th-seeded Ross Chastain to set up a match-up with Stenhouse.

With some road courses and Daytona International Speedway still to come on the regular season slate, an underrated Cinderella story continues to form, and more eyes will move upon the 29-year-old to see where he goes from here.

Notable Underdog Runs

Comebacks are going to be a theme across the underdog order, and it continues with Stenhouse. Just like the race he won at Talladega Superspeedway last fall, Stenhouse outlasted the Big One to put himself in prime position to capitalize in the second half of the race.

That was until he got squeezed into the wall in stage two, breaking a toe link in the process and falling two laps down. To make matters worse, he was hit with an equipment interference penalty later on.

However, with several cautions flying, Stenhouse was able to receive the lucky dog and eventually return to the lead lap. And to count Stenhouse out on a superspeedway? Not so fast.

Stenhouse roared into the top 10, making a daring three-wide pass within the final 10 laps to reach second. That was as far as he got, falling back to sixth at the end, but it was an absolute team effort to get the Olive Branch, Miss. native his third top 10 of the season.

There is a tension between a strong run and missing out on an opportunity to win. For Zane Smith, it might be the latter, as he finished seventh in spite of leading late in the race.

Sporting the Aaron’s Dream Machine colors, Smith certainly was the “lucky dog” at times, though you can attribute it more to his talent, avoiding several incidents throughout the night including a Shane van Gisbergen spin in the final stage. Smith also grabbed two stage points in stage two with a ninth-place showing.

With 10 laps remaining, the Huntington Beach, Calif. native was riding the waves out in front of everyone, surrendering it shortly thereafter. Despite flirting with the top five the rest of the way, Smith was unable to get back to the top spot, settling for his third top 10 of 2025, one shy of his career-best mark. As the 14-seed in the In-Season bracket, he bested Austin Cindric to advance to the next round where he will take on Chris Buescher.

Also advancing in what was the biggest upset of the first round was 32nd-seeded Ty Dillon, taking out the top-seeded Denny Hamlin in a 2018 UVA/UMBC-like moment.

Despite receiving damage in the lap 69 Big One, Dillon plugged away inside the top 10 for most of the night, including scoring a sixth-place stage two result. The 33-year-old overcame a pit road penalty at the end of stage one and contact with Justin Haley on lap 227 to earn his first top 10 of the season. And for all those who doubted him, Dillon had a message as he advances to the next round.

Though he didn’t avenge his runner-up result from the spring, Carson Hocevar “Rode the ‘Dente” to another top 10, recovering from damage suffered in the Big One.

Speed was evident from the Spire Motorsports driver, evidenced by a fifth-place stage one opening act. Yet, the damage set him back for the night dropping him a lap down. Receiving the free pass later in stage two, Hocevar went to work, methodically working his way into the top 20, then top 15, and eventually, the top 10. With a car that looked like a half-wrapped Christmas present, Hocevar didn’t shy away from throwing some haymakers, ultimately landing his fourth top 10 of the year. He too pulled an upset over Ryan Blaney, pairing him against Tyler Reddick next week.

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Just missing out on the top 10 was rising prodigy Connor Zilisch. Aside from some damage sustained in a lap-58 crash, the 18-year-old took the veterans to school on wreck avoidance, keeping his Trackhouse Racing machine clean throughout the chaos. The NASCAR Xfinity Series regular ran inside the top 10 in the final laps of the race before slipping to 11th. However, it was still his best finish in three Cup starts, and the road course star will get another crack next week at the Chicago street course.

AJ Allmendinger was another driver to bounce back from the very first crash of the night, getting wadded up in the lap-58 accident. However, the veteran stayed alive throughout the night, giving one last push at the end to finish 12th. By finishing ahead of Michael McDowell (18th), the 22nd-seeded Allmendinger advances to the next round of the In-Season Challenge where he will face Ty Gibbs.

When chaos and attrition reign, it opens the door for ultimate underdogs to steal the spotlight. Such was the case for both Cody Ware (13th) and BJ McLeod (16th). A few days after it was revealed Rick Ware Racing will be sold to Spire Motorsports founder T.J. Puchyr, Ware responded by delivering his first top 15 of the season.

Meanwhile, McLeod overcame damage sustained in the Big One to earn the top 20, his best finish since a seventh at Daytona International Speedway in 2022.

Underdog Power Rankings

1. Hocevar (–): A gutsy drive to recover from the lap 69 crash matched with an upset in the In-Season Challenge keeps Cowboy Carson atop the rankings this week. His lone starts on the streets of Chicago yielded a finish of 24th, something to watch as he looks to advance to the next round of the challenge.

2. Jones (+2): From 30th to 15th in points in the span of eight weeks, Jones is not only an underdog in this column, but also to make the playoffs, a complete changing of the tide for Legacy Motor Club. Those efforts ride with him to Chicago, where he has finishes of 16th and 29th.

3. Allmendinger (-1): Though he drops a spot in these rankings, Allmendinger kept his quietly consistent trend of finishing inside the top 20 going, remaining as a long shot to point his way in. Chicago hasn’t been kind to the road course ace in the past, but you have to imagine it is win or bust for the veteran next week.

4. Smith (NR): Smith leaps back into the rankings after just missing out on a playoff-busting victory in Atlanta, ultimately scoring a top 10. His lone appearance in Chicago a year ago resulted in a 17th-place finish.

5. John Hunter Nemechek (-2): A 26th-place showing throws some cold water on a hot streak for Nemechek, but if there’s any positive, he made it out of The Big One. Regaining momentum will be a tall task in Chicago, where Nemechek finished 35th a year ago. However, he does have recent road success to look back to, where he finished sixth in Mexico City a couple weeks back.

Small Team Scheme of the Week

Several schemes shined under the lights in Hotlanta, but it is still hard to overlook Zilisch’s Red Bull scheme. Maybe it’s the continued nostalgia of seeing the energy drink brand back on the track, but the classic logo mixed with the navy blue base makes this a mouth-watering scheme.

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Entering his fifth year with Frontstretch, Luken Glover is the author of The Underdog House, shedding light on the motivation and performance of NASCAR's dark horse teams as they strive to fight to the top. Additionally, Glover reports for the site at various events, and he contributes in the video editing department.

A 2023 graduate of the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is a middle school math and PE teacher, as well as a basketball coach. He is passionate about serving in his church, playing/coaching a wide variety of sports, and researching motorsports history.