Erik Jones was evaluated and released from UAB University Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday night following a terrifying crash at Talladega Superspeedway.
The No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Camry was turned nose-first into the Turn 3 outside retaining wall, prematurely ending his race on Lap 156 in Sunday’s GEICO 500. In an attempt to make up time on the rest of the grid, Toyota teammates from Joe Gibbs Racing, 23XI Racing, and Legacy Motor Club opted to run wide open as the rest of the field conserved fuel.
But as the single line of cars stacked up entering the third corner, bumps on the track caused Jones to wiggle, eventually sending him head-on into the outside wall. Dash cam footage from the accident captured the horrifying first-person view of Jones as he veered off the track and smashed into the wall within a split second.
Moments after the collision, the 27-year-old could be heard grimacing in pain and telling his crew chief: “I don’t know if I’m alright.” Following a brief pause, he added: “I need help. My back.”
Jones, who finished 35th in the GEICO 500, was immediately taken to the infield care center to be evaluated. Soon after leaving the care center, he complained of still feeling pain and was brought back. NASCAR officials announced he was then transported to a local hospital to undergo further testing.
According to Legacy Motor Club, Jones was released from UAB University Hospital at 11:30 p.m. and traveled back home to North Carolina that same night.
“I’m sore, it just really stretched it out a lot,” Jones said on the heels of his first trip to the infield care center. “So, it’ll be a long week, just trying to get recovered and feeling better for next week. But I’m alright.
“I don’t know, the No. 23 was pushing us there,” he continued. “We were pushing and shoving to try and make time on our strategy and I got sideways getting into three and tried to gather it up and then ended up hard into the wall.
“Obviously, I ended up pretty hard into the wall. It’s unfortunate for us, it ended our day, and definitely destroyed a car.”
Following the six-car tangle, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, and Jones were all forced to retire their cars. John Hunter Nemechek was able to emerge from the accident unscathed and continue the race.
“We were all pushing really hard to keep our line going, we had a plan and we just didn’t execute it as well as we should have,” Wallace said following the race. “Hate it for our Leidos team, always look forward to running these places, then you get trapped in other people’s messes. Just hate it, it doesn’t make us look good at all.”
“I just saw the No. 43 get turned, and then I got turned,” Hamlin added. “So, I’m not sure what happened first but, I’m not sure, but obviously, there was a bad push up towards the front and it wiped us all out.”
