Getty Erik Jones will lose 2 crew members after the Goodyear 400.
Two members of the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club team are set to receive two-race suspensions after the NASCAR Cup Series trip to Darlington Raceway. The cause is a lost wheel assembly that kicked off a massive wreck.
The incident occurred on Lap 195 of 293. The field took the green flag on a restart as Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain battled for the lead. They made it through Turn 1 cleanly, but a good portion of the field wrecked behind them. Erik Jones lost a right rear wheel, which sent the No. 43 spinning in front of Ty Gibbs. This caused a chain reaction that collected multiple vehicles.
According to the FOX Sports broadcast, the incident collected nine competitors. Jones was obviously on this list. Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Michael McDowell, Todd Gilliland, Noah Gragson, Ryan Newman, and Gibbs all had damage.
As a result of the lost wheel, NASCAR officials held the No. 43 for two laps as an in-race penalty. Two members of the crew will also receive two-race suspensions due to the wheel coming loose on the track. Though the crew chief will not miss any time after NASCAR changed the penalties during the offseason.
Several Next Gen Cars Have Lost Wheels Since 2022
GettyErik Jones (bottom) is the latest driver to lose a wheel.
The Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway is only the latest example of a Next Gen car losing a wheel at a critical point of the race. There have been several teams that have dealt with this issue since the start of the 2022 season.
The first two examples were the No. 31 of Justin Haley and the No. 50 of Kaz Grala. Both lost wheels during the 2022 Daytona 500. The run continued with the No. 7 of Corey Lajoie at Phoenix, the No. 23 of Bubba Wallace at Circuit of the Americas, the No. 16 of AJ Allmendinger at Dover, the No. 11 of Denny Hamlin at Dover, and the No. 45 of Kurt Busch at Darlington Raceway.
Counting the most recent incident with the No. 43 Chevrolet, there have been 19 examples of Next Gen cars losing wheels since the start of the 2022 Cup Series season. This will only continue with the single-lug wheels.
Jones Attempted To Salvage His Day at Darlington Raceway
GettyCup Series drivers race at Darlington Raceway.
The lost wheel led to the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro spinning and sustaining some damage. The penalty dropped Jones multiple laps behind the leaders during the final stage. He then spent the rest of the day trying to salvage some positions.
This process was made easier by the number of wrecks that occurred during the final stage. There were several multi-car incidents that sent prominent drivers to the garage early. Some were collected in the incident started by the No. 43; others were collected during the incidents that set up NASCAR overtime.
Jones never got back on the lead lap after getting the two-lap penalty, but he moved up the scoring pylon while avoiding the other incidents. He ultimately crossed the finish line 25th overall. He was just ahead of teammate Noah Gragson and just behind Corey LaJoie.
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