Erik Jones appeared to avoid major injury Sunday despite going into the wall at high speed during Sunday’s Geico 500 at Talladega.
Jones went into the wall hard with about 33 laps to go in Sunday’s race after being tapped by Bubba Wallace. The force of the collision made it particularly scary, and it did not help that Jones could be heard complaining about his back on the team radio.
Man. Hope Erik Jones is ok. He absolutely hammered the wall at big, big speed.
— Colin Dunlap (@colin_dunlap) April 21, 2024
Erik Jones is saying "my back, my back" to medical personnel on scene. #NASCAR
— Noah Lewis (@Noah_Lewis1) April 21, 2024
Jones was able to climb out of the car on his own, though it took some time. He was quickly released from the infield care center and admitted that his back was sore, but he said he was “fine.”
Erik Jones is a tough dude pic.twitter.com/0Y0KhIKLx6
— Rubbin is Racing (@rubbinisracing) April 21, 2024
“I’m a little sore, but it’ll be alright,” Jones said. “It was a hard hit. At the end of the day, if you’re going to be dumb, you gotta be tough.”
Many fans were amazed that Jones was able to walk away largely unscathed, especially considering the state of his car.
can’t believe erik jones was able to walk away from this
i wouldn’t even want to imagine if we were still in the 2022 version of this car pic.twitter.com/3FKelJrc3r
— DennyDeliversYT 📦 (@DennyDelivers2) April 21, 2024
Saw some stuff about Erik Jones complaining of back pain after that crash. He admits to Fox that he's a little sore.
The right front wheel of his car is completely shoved in pic.twitter.com/PMYdVU9kAv
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) April 21, 2024
Jones wound up finishing 35th, as he was obviously unable to complete the race. His best finish of the 2024 season thus far came at Daytona, where he finished eighth.
