CUP: Disqualification hands Erik Jones first last-place finish in over five years
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Legacy Motor Club, @LEGACYMotorClub
Erik Jones picked up the 7th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #43 Dollar Tree Toyota crossed the finish line 24th, completing 399 of 400 laps, but was disqualified for failing to meet the minimum weight requirement.
The finish, which came in Jones’ 296th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since September 29, 2019 at the Charlotte “Roval,” 194 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 32nd by disqualification, the 38th for the #43, and the 194th for Toyota. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 52nd for the #43, the 60th from disqualification, and the 421st for Toyota.
Austin Cindric picked up the 4th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #2 Menards / Jack Links Ford had electrical issues after 363 of 400 laps.
The finish, which came in Cindric’s 122nd series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since March 10, 2024 at Phoenix, 39 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 31st for the #2, the 45th from electrical woes, and the 757th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 40th for the #2, the 142nd from electrical issues, and the 1,061st for Ford.
The last time Jones was featured on this site, he was still driving the #20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, where he scored his second career victory in that year’s Southern 500. With the arrival of Christopher Bell in 2021, Jones moved to the iconic #43 at Richard Petty Motorsports – just as the team was going through a series of changes. After a lackluster 2021, Jones was there for the team’s upgrade to the current NextGen car, where in 2022 he showed speed at Fontana, then won his second Southern 500 – the 200th for the #43 in Cup competition. He’s since weathered the storms of the team’s switch from Chevrolet to Toyota, the ownership restructuring to Legacy Motor Club (LMC) with the investment of Maury Gallagher, then Jimmie Johnson, and a rotating series of teammates, including Ty Dillon, Noah Gragson, Carson Hocevar, and John Hunter Nemechek.
This year, the LMC team has shown marked improvement. Both Jones and Nemechek were factors in the Last Chance Qualifier for the Clash at Bowman Gray. At Daytona, Jones crossed the finish line first in Duel Race 2, only to be snookered by an ill-timed caution short of the checkered flag. Whie Nemechek finished 5th in the Daytona 500 and remained in the Top 16 in points through just last week, Jones has yet to improve on his 12th-place showing in the “Great American Race.” His 15th-place run last Sunday in Homestead was his best finish since.
At Martinsville, Jones was one of 38 entrants for 40 spots, meaning all would qualify. He ranked 16th in practice, but managed just 31st in qualifying with a lap of 19.994 seconds (94.708mph).
The tail end of the field before the green flag with #50-Burt Myers, #66-Casey Mears, and #51-Cody Ware. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
Securing the 38th and final starting spot was 49-year-old Burt Myers, who after joining rival Tim Brown in last month’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium was this time able to make his first start in a Cup Series points-paying race. Team AmeriVet had fixed up the #50 entry damaged in an on-track altercation that night, and this time carried sponsorship from pressure washing company C3 Skids.
When the green flag dropped, Myers crossed the stripe in last, 4.197 seconds back of the lead to the 37th-place driver’s 4.166. This was the #66 of Casey Mears, back in the Cup Series for the first time since the 2019 Daytona 500. Carl Long’s Garage 66 team had its own sponsorship issues, picking up backing from Canter Power Systems and Coble Enterprises after a deal with goHitchGo fell through.
Mears (right-center) trails the field by open track. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
Coming off Turn 2 on the opening lap, Myers cleared Mears on the outside, and Mears began Lap 2 showing 6.485 seconds back of the lead. By Lap 8, Mears radioed his car “will not turn at all.” This tight condition dropped him a full second back of 37th-place Myers on Lap 11, then three seconds on Lap 18. Two laps later, team owner Carl Long reported debris in Turn 3, which the spotter said came off their car. The caution didn’t come out until Lap 31, when crews retrieved a piece of hose that had rolled into Turn 4. By then, Mears had been lapped on Lap 23 when leaders Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott moved under him off Turn 2. This gave Mears his lap back, and the caution afforded Long and crew the opportunity to make significant adjustments.
By Lap 34, Mears had his lap back, and Cody Ware took the spot after his #51 Arby’s Ford completed its pit stop. Myers took the spot back on Lap 35, then incurred a redundant tail-end penalty for speeding in Section 12. On Lap 43, shortly after the restart, Myers caught and passed Mears, whose handling started to go away again. By Lap 50, he was 11.824 seconds back of the lead, nearly two seconds back of Myers, and remarked on Lap 58 “Damn, the thing just fell off real bad.” By Lap 64, Mears was 20.475 seconds back of the lead, and new leader Josh Berry lapped him on Lap 65. On Lap 72, Carson Hocevar’s #77 Delaware Life Chevrolet made contact with Chris Buescher’s #17 Kroger / El Paso Ford, sending Buescher into a spin that also cost him a lap. Mears earned the “Lucky Dog” for a second time, dropping Buescher to last on Lap 73.
Josh Berry’s crew looks under the hood on pit road. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
As both Buescher and Hocevar came to pit road, so did Berry, who stayed out under the debris caution to lead in his #21 Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford. But as Berry pulled out of his stall, he banged doors with Bubba Wallace’s #23 McDonald’s Toyota. Berry only made it halfway around the track before his dashboard shut off, leaving him stranded. Berry received a push, then somehow managed to drive under power to his pit stall. There, a crew member dove through his passenger side window to figure out what seemed to be a faulty battery. Berry took last from Buescher on Lap 79 before he returned to the track. Berry reported just 12.5 volts, which only increased to 12.6 after he shut off his fans. He made a second stop, where the crew looked under the hood, and it was determined the alternator was to blame. The team had no choice but to change batteries when he dropped below 11 volts. They planned the first change on Lap 82, when the caution fell to end Stage 1.
By Lap 93, the same issue had befallen his “teammate” Austin Cindric, who soon had a crew member climbing through the window of his #2 Menards / Jack Links Ford. Just like Berry, Cindric’s team had no choice but to change batteries the rest of the afternoon.
Burt Myers’ #50 stalled just short of the Turn 1 entrance to the garage area. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
On Lap 112, Berry was still in last place, the only driver off the lead lap, and was now two laps down to the leaders. By Lap 118, he lost the “Lucky Dog” spot to Mears, who was already put a lap down for the third time. Further ahead, Myers was still struggling. On Lap 94, his #50 broke loose off Turn 4, nearly collecting both Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. And on Lap 123, Myers suddenly slowed off Turn 2 with a loss of power. He crept around the track for a lap, then tried to pull into the garage entrance at Turn 2 when his car came to a stop against the protective sand barrels, drawing the caution. Myers received a push, then made it back to his stall for repairs. He’d taken last from Berry on Lap 124, then fell five laps down by the time he returned to the track on Lap 130. At the time, Berry was still 2 laps down in 37th, and with Buescher back on the lead lap from the caution that ended Stage 1, Mears got back on the lead lap for a third time. By Lap 182, when the caution fell to end Stage 2, Myers was still in last place, shown between five and six laps down to the leaders.
On Lap 202, Mears had just dropped to 37th behind Berry when Riley Herbst spun his #35 Lucy Toyota off the nose of Cindric during a three-wide charge into Turn 1 with A.J. Allmendinger’s #16 Black’s Tire Chevrolet. Herbst briefly took 37th when he incurred a tail-end penalty for speeding on pit road in Section 12, then climbed to 35th for the restart ahead of both 36th-place Berry and 37th-place Mears. That time by, Myers was still in last, now six laps down, and he fell a seventh lap down on Lap 249. On Lap 256, Mears was still 37th when he lost a third lap to then-leader Denny Hamlin, and a tire was coming apart as Mears made it to pit road on Lap 262. There, Mears incurred his own speeding penalty in Section 6, dropping him six laps down. On Lap 266, NASCAR reported Myers may have lost power again, and he fell ten laps down by Lap 270.
By Lap 275, Shane Van Gisbergen was already laps down in his #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet. His crew left the right-rear wheel loose on his last stop, causing the wheel to come off on Lap 275. He came down pit road and served the two-lap penalty, dropping him five laps down in 36th, one lap ahead of Mears and four ahead of the still last-place Myers. By the Lap 287 restart, Myers was shown nine laps down , and with 75 to go, 37th-place Mears was seven laps down.
But with 58 to go, Mears made a pit stop, and he returned to the track four laps later on the same lap as last-place Myers, both nine down. This set up what looked to be an intense last-place battle to go the distance. Back up to speed, Myers was within sight of Mears, but Mears’ team assured him the #66 was getting through traffic quicker. With 47 to go, Mears was told that Myers was closing, running three-tenths faster, but also had to contend with Ware, who burned his feet from a fire caused by a reported plug wire. With 44 to go, the leaders lapped Myers, then Mears, putting both ten laps down. Ware moved past Myers with 40 to go, and both Myers and Mears continued to be separated by faster traffic.
Cindric (center) is pushed to the garage area in Sunday’s closing stages. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
Then with 33 to go, the 33rd-place Cindric slowed and made it to pit road, needing another battery. But perhaps because the Penske Racing team shared a pool of batteries with the Wood Brothers’ Josh Berry, the team didn’t have a new battery to use. With 26 to go, Cindric dropped a tenth lap down, putting him in last place as both Mears and Myers raced past on track. With 24 to go, the crew pushed Cindric’s car behind the wall, which rolled to a stop in Stall 11 of the backstretch garage. With 18 to go, NASCAR declared Cindric – the first car to enter the garage all day – as the first car out.
Like both Cindric and Berry, Jones was struggling with the same electrical issue, forcing him to shut off and drain his own cool suit. He’d also punched in the nose of his Toyota when he ran in the back of Allmendinger entering Turn 3. He still managed to finish 24th, the second car one lap down behind Allmendinger. But then came news that Jones’ car was too light in post-race inspection, incurring a disqualification. Jones’ disqualification bumped Cole Custer out of the Bottom Five and Justin Haley out of the Bottom Ten.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #43 in a Cup Series race since June 3, 2018, when Bubba Wallace’s #43 Weis Markets Chevrolet lost the engine after 108 laps around Pocono – Wallace’s first Cup Series last-place finish. The #43 hadn’t finished last at Martinsville since April 3, 2016, when Aric Almirola’s #43 STP Ford lost the engine after 206 laps of the STP 500.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #43-Erik Jones / 399 laps / disqualified
37) #2-Austin Cindric / 363 laps / electrical
36) #50-Burt Myers / 388 laps / running
35) #66-Casey Mears / 389 laps / running
34) #88-Shane Van Gisbergen / 394 laps / running
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) 23XI Racing, Kaulig Racing, Penske Racing, RFK Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Spire Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet, Ford (3)
2nd) Toyota (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
