Legacy Motor Club decides on appeal of Erik Jones Martinsville disqualification, issues statement

Following post-race inspections at Martinsville Sunday night, Legacy Motor Cub driver Erik Jones was disqualified. The No. 43 car failed to meet post-race weight requirements. NASCAR had to issue the DQ.

Erik Jones finished P24 before the disqualification. NASCAR allows teams to appeal these decisions.

While NASCAR allows for appeals, Legacy Motor Club is going to accept this penalty and move on. There will be no appeal and no need to wait a week or two for a decision.

Here is the statement from Legacy Motor Club, via Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic. A tough decision, but probably a wise one.

“Legacy Motor Club will not appeal the disqualification of the No. 43 car following Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway,” the team said in the statement. “We understand NASCAR allows a clear margin to account for the difference in pre- and post-race weight. After a thorough audit by the Club today, we have concluded that we did not give ourselves enough margin to meet the post-race requirement. Although it was not intentional, we are taking steps internally to prevent this from happening again. We therefore accept the penalty and apologize to NASCAR, our partners and fans.”

Legacy Motor Club statement on Erik Jones' disqualification. Team will not appeal. pic.twitter.com/2t3lZM9YxZ

— Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) March 31, 2025

Legacy Motor Club cannot afford these mistakes. Every points position matters in their case. Even if they don’t make the playoffs, they have to show some kind of improvement this season. If not, then people are really going to talk and it will almost all be valid.

I’m not sure what Legacy needs to do to improve. Whatever they have going on in that 42 car has been working really well. John Hunter Nemechek is 17th in points. Jones is now 29th in points with 108 total.

Erik Jones didn’t need this

This will go on the record as the first DNF/DQ for Erik Jonesthis season. That is a pretty good record to have in 2025, with so many drivers having at least one race with a DNF. Jones has to be better overall, though, DQ or not.

Darlington is a good track to go to after this disappointing result. Of course, Jones is a two-time Southern 500 winner. If Legacy was going to steal a win this season outside of Dayton and Talladega, why not there?

Oh, and to put things into context, Jones is still ahead of Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Riley Herbst, and Shane van Gisbergen. Those drivers are having ROUGH seasons.

Erik Jones has a real opportunity to bounce back this weekend. Legacy Motor Club has to give him a car capable of competing.