Erik Jones, Legacy Motor Club lose appeal for penalty at Gateway

NASCAR has upheld the penalty levied against the No. 43 team of Erik Jones for a modification to the greenhouse during the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway on June 4.

“The penalty was consistent with previously assessed penalties for similar situations,” NASCAR said in a statement, via Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. “The rule book is clear that teams are not allowed to modify single-source parts.”

NASCAR issued an L1-level penalty, resulting in Jones being docked 60 championship points as well as five NASCAR playoff points.  In addition, NASCAR suspended Jones’ crew chief, Dave Elenz, for two races, while fining him $75,000.

“It’s obviously unfortunate,” Jones told Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut. “I don’t know what the plan of attack is… Hopefully we can find one. It’s a bummer for a lot of reasons. Dave sitting out is not something we want. The points penalty and fine is not something we need either.”

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season hasn’t been kind to Erik Jones

Jones slipped to 30th in the Cup Series points standings following the penalty, where he remains with nine races remaining before the playoffs. He has recorded just three top 10s in 17 races this season — his first with Legacy Motor Club, formerly Petty GMS Motorsports. Jones is coming off a P8 finish in the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway this past Sunday.

“It was a good day,” Jones said after the race, via Dustin Long of NBC Sports. “We had a good No. 43 Allegiant Chevy. We were able to run up towards the top-10 all day, so just need to build on that. If you can be up there and running competitively, it gives you something to work on. Today was the first day in a while that I felt like we were in the ballpark and where we need to be, so that’s a good step. I’m proud of the effort, for sure. We’re getting the cars better and where we want them to be, and hopefully just get them a little bit more moving forward.”