NASCAR Cup Driver Erik Jones Says Broken Back Has Led to Overdue Safety Modifications

• Erik Jones says about his return to the car, “It’s the first time in eight years I’ve really moved a lot of different things in the car, in how I’m sitting and how I’m positioned there,”

• Jones described his injury that involved only one vertebra as on the “minor side.”

• “I have, hopefully, over a decade left in this sport,” the 27-year-old Jones said about being cautious about his return from injury.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Erik Jones says the compression fracture he suffered in his back during a multi-car crash at Talladega has resulted in him making safety equipment changes for the first time in nearly a decade.

“It’s the first time in eight years I’ve really moved a lot of different things in the car, in how I’m sitting and how I’m positioned there,” the Legacy Motor Club driver said. “I have changed my seat, some belt angles and a handful of things that we found that could have been better before the wreck at Talladega.

“I’m sitting in a pretty different position than what I’m used to for almost all of my racing career. It’s been a big learning experience. I think we’ve all learned a lot internally on what we can do better on safety.”

Jones returned to competition with a 19th-place finish in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway and planned to resume lifting weights this week.

“Through this injury it’s been kind of a pain tolerance thing more than anything,” Jones said.

That’s included pain management with hot and cold treatments, and then walking on a treadmill at a high incline. He jogged to determine the impact on his back, used bodyweight movements and did a great deal of stretching.

“When you have an injury like that in your back your back is spasming a lot to try to support your spine,” Jones explained. “It’s a stable fracture. With this injury, there’s not a lot you can do to speed things up (when it comes to healing). The bone doesn’t grow back. It’s just got to harden. You’ve lost that chunk of vertebrae forever. By five weeks, I’ll be totally back to normal.”

Jones described his injury that involved only one vertebra as on the “minor side.” He never wore a back brace, and he didn’t wear anything to stabilize his back at Darlington.

Jones’ recovery involved missing two races—Dover and Kansas. He returned to the simulator before the May 5 Kansas race and spent about 90 minutes in it, picking a couple of tracks that would move the device a great deal to create a bigger impact on his back.

The Michigan native was cleared by doctors to compete at Kansas, but after talking with several people he decided it would be best to sit out one more race since he was still sore. He said he could have driven if he had really pushed it, but then if he reinjured himself, he would have looked “like an idiot in some ways.”

“I have, hopefully, over a decade left in this sport,” the 27-year-old Jones said. “That’s a lot of races. You look back and you say, ’What’s really the difference in one or two?’ (I) want … to be in the sport for a long time and not do something right now that’s gonna put me at risk for an early end to my career.”