At the Talladega Superspeedway, Erik Jones inherited 2nd place from a bitterly disappointed Matt DiBenedetto. Jones is currently fighting for his career, as is Ty Dillon, who finished third.

Earlier this year, the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) team announced that they would not renew Jones’ contract. After his magnificent 2nd place, he was asked whether such a performance should have come a lot sooner.

He said, “I mean, yes and no. I think their decision was somewhat made already beyond how I would have ran. I don’t know that would have changed it.

“Obviously, I wish we could have ran better all year, been in the Playoffs. I think the way we’ve been running, our Playoff run so far would have been fairly strong.”

What else did Erik Jones say?

The driver confessed that he has no idea if his recent form would have influenced JGR’s decision. However, he suspected that he would probably be on his way out, sooner or later.

Back in September, Erik Jones opened up on his future in the sport. He said, “There is stuff going on, we have been in a lot of talks with different teams and trying to find an opportunity.

“It’s a tough environment. There’s definitely teams that are struggling to find sponsorship and to find money.”

In the meantime, reports suggest that Christopher Bell might take over Jones’ vacated seat. Bell’s own team, Leavine Family Racing, will leave the NASCAR Cup Series.

As per Jones, the move ‘blindsided’ him and Joey Logano reached out to support him in his time of need. Since Logano raced for Joe Gibbs Racing before he helped Jones out.

The exit ends a 3-year relationship between Erik Jones and JGR, with two wins to show, as the fruits of their labor.

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