Erik Jones gives update on back injury at Dover: 'I feel pretty good'

It appears that Erik Jones is in good spirits a week after suffering his spinal fracture during a wreck at Talladega in the GEICO 500. The lower compression fracture is going to keep Jones out of the car, but the NASCAR driver is doing alright.

Of course, Erik Jones will not race this week. Corey Heim is filling in for Jones for the Wurth 400 this Sunday. It will be Heim’s first taste of Cup Series action after signing on as the simulator driver and reserve driver for Legacy Motor Club and 23XI Racing.

Jones believes that the care center at Talladega did their job. He also credited the Next Gen car, saying that the car “gets a bad rap. At the end of the day, I think the car did its job,” according to Jeff Gluck of The Athletic.

While it was a bit of a back-and-forth with the care center, Jones did not blame them for not diagnosing him with a fracture. In fact, Jones revealed that he may have not let them know how much pain he was in at first.

Of course, after going back to his motorhome, Erik Jones knew that there was more wrong than just a strained back.

Erik Jones is here with Corey Heim for a news conference. Jimmie Johnson has also stuck around to listen.

Asked by @APgelston about the timeline of being released from the Talladega care center and then going back, Jones says his back hurt when he crashed but he was feeling…

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) April 27, 2024

Those right-angle hits are going to be hard no matter what. The Next Gen car has had issues in the past with certain impacts. Specifically the rear end impacts at slow speeds. However, NASCAR has made adjustments to make it safer. If Jones credits the car, then it deserves the credit.

It is interesting that Jones had a similar hit to Ryan Blaney from last year. About 70G of force when the cars made impact with the wall, but only Jones came away with an injury.

Erik Jones out for the near future

When Alex Bowman fractured his back in a sprint car last year after Talladega, he was out for five weeks. Erik Jones claims he has a mild injury, so I’m not sure if we are going to see the same kind of timetable. Then again, everyone is different and heals differently.

NASCAR is working hard to figure out what happened in the wreck. How the energy was diffused, why Jones was injured and a driver like Blaney wasn’t in his own wreck last August. All of that will be analyzed and will hopefully lead to a safer race car.

The big news now is Corey Heim. This Truck Series driver may be young but he is insanely talented. Drivers from Denny Hamlin to Brad Keselowski, and of course, Legacy Motor Club, have been high on this guy for a couple of years.

This year in the Truck Series, Heim has a win and an average finish of 3.9 – he has the stuff. At least, on the smaller stage he does. How he adapts to the Next Gen car and Cup Series racing remains to be seen.