Erik Jones reveals biggest impact of L1 penalty levied against No. 43 team

Erik Jones was levied a huge points penalty by NASCAR earlier in the week, but that’s not his main concern ahead of Sonoma.

Of course, Jones can still win his way into the NASCAR Playoffs. But it’s going to be difficult, as crew chief Dave Elenz was suspended for the next two races as part of the penalty.

Jones told FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass that’s actually the biggest impact of the penalty he received, as he’s missing Elenz’s voice in his ear at the moment.

Erik Jones said the biggest impact of the penalty issued last week will be not having crew chief Dave Elenz atop the box for two races. pic.twitter.com/BalHUtHr3H

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 11, 2023

“Yeah, obviously we want Dave at the track. We want him to come every week. Probably the bigger thing than anything,” said the No. 43 wheelman. “Obviously we want, regardless of whether we’re in the playoffs or not here coming up, we want to finish as high in points as we can. So that’s still a focus, is points. But definitely the biggest thing is just not having Dave.”