Erik Jones wants to return to racing by Goodyear 400 at Darlington: ‘At the latest’

A week after breaking his back, Erik Jones was already talking about when he would like to get back into his racecar. The NASCAR driver missed out on the Dover race as Corey Heim filled in for his first Cup start.

Erik Jones suffered a compression fracture in his lower back after being involved in a violent wreck at Talladega. He hit the outside wall at a right angle, one of the worst hits in motorsports.

With a week of recovery behind him, Jones is already thinking about getting on the track again. But how long will he be out? If he has his way, Jones thinks he can get back into the car in two weeks at Darlington, if not next week at Kansas.

“Darlington is definitely a goal, for sure, at the latest to be back,” Jones said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “I would love to obviously come back next week at Kansas. …  We will take more scans, see how the back is healing and make sure it’s healing good and the way they want to.

“And again how I’m feeling to every day — as long as I’m feeling better and better, I feel like I can get in and do some simulator work, get some motion on my back and see how it feels.”

Now, I’m not sure how severe the injury is, but that sounds early to me. Alex Bowman suffered a similar wreck in 2023, albeit in a sprint car, and had to sit out three weeks. It was actually shorter than his concussion recovery in 2022.

Denny Hamlin sat out for a month in 2013 after breaking his back. These injuries take a long time to heal up. They are not simple fixes, there are no exercises you can do or treatment you can really take. Just have to let things heal up.

It would be shocking to see Erik Jones back by the Goodyear 400. I like his thinking. He seems to be in good spirits about the whole situation. Things are just going to have to play out.

Drivers drive. Racers race. I am not surprised that Jones wants to get back in the car as soon as possible. Any NASCAR driver would feel the same. However, this is not an easy injury to move on from. Even when Jones is good to race again, his feel in the car won’t be the same.

Cup Series drivers often drive by “feeling” the car with the seat of their pants. Being able to feel the car is important to know what kind of adjustments to make and just how to get it around the track.

Erik Jones is going to return at some point. He believes he can be back in two weeks. It will be interesting to see how long this goes on and if Jones can meet his goal by returning at Darlington.