Young Veteran Erik Jones Calls Out Fans’ Disregard for NASCAR Drivers’ Grind Misled by a ‘Glamorous’ Lifestyle

The world of car racing is symbolized by dazzling finishes and hefty cash rewards. When Ryan Blaney won the 2023 championship or William Byron took home the Harley J Earl trophy this year, they were showered in confetti, booze, and praises. But behind all this external display of celebrations, rests an intense and hectic life, as Erik Jones says.

People outside NASCAR can easily form the notion that racers lead extravagant lifestyles. But on the contrary, NASCAR’s stressful schedule often impacts racers’ lives greatly. Erik Jones thinks this aspect is invisible to people outside the sport.

Erik Jones pops the bubble of mystery around racers’ rich lifestyle

In the old days, each Cup season in NASCAR was jampacked with 50 races. After 1972, the schedule was increasingly relaxed, bringing the number down to 29 races. This afforded 8 off-weekends that allowed race teams to rewind, rest, and test new equipment. 

But things soon changed again, and a 36-race calendar was adopted in 2001, used to this day. With only 2 off-weekends, race teams have a lot on their plate. From preparing for races with a limited time frame to catering to press conferences, it is truly a wonder how racers and their crew manage to cope physically and mentally after a tiring day.

Erik Jones pointed out the thing fans miss out on in an interview with The Athletic: “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.”

Then he got raw with the details. “It’s easy to say from the 100-foot view, “Man, that guy has got it great.” And for sure, we have a really good life. 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.”

Erik Jones, driving the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club, is not alone in his view that NASCAR can be unforgiving.

Legacy President likes to keep things simple

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Erik Jones’ team president, Mike Beam, is also no stranger to the grind of NASCAR. He first entered the garage in 1981 and won races as a crew chief for Bill Elliott and Ricky Craven. Everything about running a Cup team runs in his veins now, having been Maury Gallagher’s right-hand man at GMS Racing since 2014.

He laid out an agenda to follow while dealing with the workload: “We just try to keep it fairly simple. Luckily, we don’t have that many people to complicate things.” 7-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson also gave him invaluable advice. “Or like when I worked for Junior Johnson, he always told me, you can’t take yourself too seriously because you’re one dancing bear away from being a circus.”

Erik Jones and Mike Beam prove a point that racing is every bit as hectic as a 9-to-5 corporate job. The racers’ heartfelt efforts offer the fans a fantastic show to enjoy.

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