Jimmie Johnson’s Ace Sheds Light on Ever-Changing Nature of Success-Centric NASCAR

What is success in the NASCAR Cup Series? As simple as it may sound, there are different layers to question. For some drivers, it’s winning the championships, for others, it’s winning the crown jewel events. There are also those few, who believe success in NASCAR is more than just winning races, and Erik Jones from LMC is one of those few drivers.

Would you consider Dale Earnhardt Jr a failure just because he has not won a championship? Surely not, his success transcends beyond the boundaries of the sport. Moreover, several championship drivers have not won the prestigious Daytona 500. So, will a single racing event define a driver’s success? Of course not. And this is the point Jones is trying to make as he looks to rebuild his team at LMC.

Erik Jones explains the true measure of success, apart from winning races

It’s not that Jones is not capable of winning Cup Series races; he has three wins to his name. However, earlier in his career, his sole focus was not to end on the losing side. There was this constant fear of failure that he could not escape. And it took some time for him to realize that success in NASCAR is more than just the sheer ability to win.

Speaking in an interview on The Athletic, Jones explained, “My opinion has changed greatly on this. Early in my career, it was 100 percent all about winning. If we weren’t winning, that was a failure. At that time in my life, I was probably scared of failure. I was worried about not winning and worried about not succeeding in Cup and making it in Cup.

“Currently, my measure of success is year-to-year improvement. And that’s challenging when you go from 2022, to where we had a surprise year and win a race and very close to making the playoffs and then we go to 2023, and it’s totally the opposite, not in contention to win and a real down year. So having those marked numbers in improvement has now been what I see as success in the situation I’ve been in, trying to build a team back.”

The former JGR driver also revealed the hard realities of living a life as a race car driver: One that is grueling and ever demanding.

Erik Jones reveals harsh realities of racing cars for a living

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NASCAR drivers live quite a lifestyle, and this is true to an extent. Lucrative contracts, sponsorship deals, and winnings from the races help the drivers live a lavish lifestyle. However, for the most part, their job requires them to be hard at work without any weekends or national holidays. This is what Jones was trying to pitch when he was asked about fans’ views on NASCAR drivers and their professional lives.

“The grind of it. I meet people in life who are fans of the sport but have never really known anyone in the sport. And then they see into my life a little bit, and they get a taste of the schedule and the travel and maybe they come and spend a weekend at the track with me and see what it’s really like when you’re in there. And man, the grind of it is not as glamorous as what people think.” Jones explained.

“We get to go drive race cars, we get paid well to do it, and we get to do a lot of cool things. But man, 38 weeks on the road, the time away from home, traveling back and forth—it’s a lot on yourself, on your personal relationships, the strain of the team relationship from you to them—especially when performance is tough,” the driver added.

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