Erik Jones reacts to John Hunter Nemechek, Legacy Motor Club turning in impressive Darlington results

On Sunday night, Erik Jones and teammate John Hunter Nemechek were excellent in the Southern 500 at Darlington. The Legacy Motor Club pairing finished P3 and P4 behind Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick.

Erik Jones is a two-time winner in the Southern 500. He is fantastic at the race track and showed that again on Sunday night.

While Jones didn’t get the win, he had another great run at Darlington. He had nothing but good things to say about how his teammate performed, too.

“Yeah, I mean, this is what Indy should have been for us a couple of months ago,” Jones said, via Frontstretch. “We had speed like this, and both guys, both cars, screwed it up and didn’t have the day we should have. So, we both executed really well. Great day for John Hunter, it’s a tough race. Just, you know, second, third time doing it, see him run up front like that, it’s pretty awesome for him.

“So, yeah, happy with the speed. Man, it’s tough when you’re racing playoff guys. They’ve got good stuff, they’re bringing good cars, their best cars right now, and especially probably to this place. So, it says a lot, I think, about our speed.”

John Hunter Nemechek’s P4 result was a career-best finish. Legacy Motor Club has both cars in the top-25 in points at the moment. Since rebranding Petty-GMS to Legacy in 2023, the best finish they have had is 27th in points. The 42 car hasn’t finished better than 32nd in the last two years.

Erik Jones earns back-to-back top-fives

For the first time since his last season at Joe Gibbs Racing, Erik Jones has back-to-back top-five finishes. The last time he was able to achieve that result was back in 2019 at Talladega and the Roval.

Daytona and Darlington were both so close to being wins for Jones. If Kyle Larson doesn’t move him late at Daytona and push him out of line, he could have been a playoff driver. Alas, he resorted to trying to play spoiler on Sunday night.

Legacy Motor Club has Jimmie Johnson. They want to expand to a three-team organization. Right now, it appears that the Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek combination is starting to slowly work. But is that the long-term solution?

There is a lot of great, young talent coming up through the ranks right now. Dodge is likely reentering the Cup Series in 2027 or 2028, and Legacy is one of the potential teams that could make a switch. Will Erik Jones win another race in the 43 car before his time runs out?