Top Dog: Erik Jones
With two drafting tracks and a road course to start the NASCAR Cup Series season nowadays, it is common to see some drivers get off to slow starts due to the chaos that comes with these types of races. In 2026, one of these drivers has been Erik Jones, pilot of the No. 43 Toyota Camry for Legacy Motor Club.
Jones finished 21st at the Daytona 500 after a last-lap spin with Carson Hocevar and Michael McDowell while battling up front, 24th at EchoPark Speedway, and 34th at Circuit of the Americas. In the latter two races, Jones finished two laps down, leaving him without a top-20 finish to start this season and sitting 34th in the points standings coming into this weekend.
The goal was simple for the No. 43 team this week, and that was to start the climb out of the early season points hole with a solid run at Phoenix Raceway (March 8).
They accomplished that goal as Jones snuck away with a top-10 finish, overcoming some early race struggles in an attrition-filled race in the desert.
The Climb to the Top
With his struggles in the standings, Jones was positioned to qualify early in the order on Saturday afternoon, and he was unable to post a lap that his team wanted. Jones started 32nd out of the 37 entries for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 500, and with the usual long runs seen at Phoenix, it was going to be a long afternoon of grinding his way to the front.
In the first stage, Jones gained six spots on the opening green flag run but started to feel a vibration, which caused him to drop back down in the field. It was a caution-free first stage that allowed leader Ryan Blaney to put Jones a lap down as he finished the opening stage in 30th, a few cars behind the free pass position. Jones began the second stage off the lead lap.
With around 60 laps to go in the stage, fellow Toyota driver Chase Briscoe wrecked from third place as Jones was in the free pass position. The caution came out, and Jones got back on the lead lap as the team continued to try and make the car better on the long run. At the end of the second frame, Jones found himself still on the lead lap in 24th.
The final stage saw six cautions for incidents, uncommon for Phoenix standards, including some hard multi-car crashes. Jones avoided all of the carnage and worked his way through the pack with the help of some flawless pit stops during the caution flags.
When it was all said and done, Jones took the checkered flag with a 10th-place finish, his best result at Phoenix in the No. 43 car. This solid points day helped move Jones up from 34th to 28th in the driver standings.
Looking Ahead
Jones and his No. 43 Legacy Motor Club team will look to build on this solid finish next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the last race of this early West Coast swing on the schedule.
Jones finished 27th and 15th in the two races at Las Vegas last season and has one top-10 finish in the Next Gen Era at the track, an eighth-place run in the 2022 playoff race.
Top Dog Of The Lower Series
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series: Another driver who was in need of a good run at Phoenix was Jeremy Clements, who started his NOAPS season with a 32nd at Daytona, 29th at Atlanta, and 32nd at COTA, which placed him 30th in the driver standings.
The 41-year-old had two 10th-place finishes at Phoenix in back-to-back races in 2020 and 2021, but he had not shown that kind of speed ever since, with only one top-15 run over his past nine starts at the track.
But that all changed on Saturday night. Clements quickly moved up through traffic from his 21st starting spot and ran in the top 10 for most of the night. He collected a stage point in the second stage with a 10th-place finish before ultimately taking the checkered flag in 11th. This result moved him up from 30th to 23rd in the driver standings.
Sammy Smith made contact with Clements late in the race and moved him up the track, which cost him a few positions. Clements voiced his displeasure with the young JR Motorsports driver after the race.
The No. 51 team will also head to Las Vegas next weekend to try and build on this positive momentum.
Small Team Scheme of the Week
Jones may have had the better result out of the Legacy Motor Club shop this weekend, but his teammate John Hunter Nemechek brought a clean-looking race car off the truck with a familiar sponsor.
Nemechek’s No. 42 car sported the Mobil 1 colors for the first time this season, which featured the iconic Pegasus on the side of his Toyota Camry.
Nemechek had a solid run going all afternoon in his red, white and blue machine before he was collected in a late race incident that relegated him to a 25th-place finish.
Michael Bellifemini joined Frontstretch in February 2026 as a contributor. Bellifemini was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Seton Hall University. He called Seton Hall men's and women's basketball games for their college radio station, 89.5 FM WSOU, and continues to broadcast in the area. Outside of covering NASCAR, Bellifemini is also an avid baseball, football, basketball, and hockey fan and enjoys watching different sports leagues on a daily basis.