NASCAR CUP SERIES: GEICO 500

April 24, 2022

Erik Jones

Pit Lane

Talladega Superspeedway

An Interview with:

Q. On the other side of that celebration is Erik Jones. Such a strong run today. Where did it go wrong?

ERIK JONES: I mean, just the last lap, right? It's typical here. Been close here so many times, in this race and the fall race. U.S. Air Force Chevy had good speed, felt good to be up front.

Coming there that last lap, we were single file. I felt pretty good about it. They kind of doubled up behind us. That top lane was getting some momentum. Looking back, I wish I would have stayed at the bottom and let the 1 push me. I didn't realize they were coming with that much speed.

But try to defend on the 5, you're too far ahead already right here. Obviously a defense on the 5 kind of gives the door to the 1.

It is what it is. You're trying to just win the race. You can only see how much is going on from the seat. You're trying to make the best decision you can the last 1500 feet.

Happy to run up front, lead laps. Would really love to get the 43 in Victory Lane. I thought today might be the day. All day long we were fast and had speed. Especially being up front there at the end, the last 10, I knew we had a shot, but just couldn't quite close it out.