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Erik Jones missed out on last weekend’s Wurth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway due to a compression fracture he suffered in his lower back during a wreck at Talladega Superspeedway. After a week of recovery, Jones expressed his eagerness to return to action in the #43 Toyota Legacy Motor Club car.
In a recent interview with FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, Jones revealed that his ultimate goal is to return to racing by Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, but he's hoping to make a potential comeback at this weekend’s race at Kansas Speedway.
“Darlington is definitely a goal, for sure, at the latest to be back. I would love to obviously come back next week at Kansas. … We will take more scans, see how the back is healing and make sure it’s healing good and the way they want to,” Jones said, as quoted by FOX Sports.
“And again how I’m feeling to every day — as long as I’m feeling better and better, I feel like I can get in and do some simulator work, get some motion on my back and see how it feels.”
Erik Jones' return to racing will depend on his medical scans scheduled for this week and his recovery.
NASCAR Truck Series regular driver Corey Heim filled in for Jones in the #43 Legacy Motor Club at the Dover Motor Speedway and finished the race in 25th after qualifying in 32nd. Heim will once again be a substitute driver for Jones at Kansas if he continues to sit out.
“We will go through the right steps” - Jimmie Johnson on Erik Jones’s return
Jimmie Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion who co-owns Legacy Motor Club, confirmed that Jones will return to the track only when he's fully fit, both mentally and physically.
“We will go through the right steps and make sure that Erik is truly ready when he gets back in the car.
"Driving is one aspect of it, but going through another significant impact and crash, that is something that we have to be mindful of,” Johnson said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports.
There has not been official confirmation from the LMC team whether Jones will return to this weekend’s Kansas race or not.
Erik Jones sits in 23rd place in the Cup Series points table and had one top-10 finish in 10 races before sustaining an injury.
