Erik Jones Brings the Iconic No. 43 to Victory Lane at Darlington

September 4, 1967, marked the lone time that Richard Petty took his iconic No. 43 to victory lane at the Southern 500, which led to one of his 200 wins. 55 years to the date, September 4, 2022, a young man named Erik Jones brought that No. 43 back to victory lane at the Southern 500. Despite that Jones was not a playoff contender, it definitely provided a spoiler to open the playoffs, as he became the first non-playoff driver to win the opening race of the playoffs since the playoff era began back in 2004. This gives the team its first win since 2014 with Aric Almirola at Daytona.

Jones joined Petty-GMS, then known as Richard Petty Motorsports, in 2021 after a three-year stint with Joe Gibbs Racing. After the two best cars broke down late in the race, those being Jones’ former teammates Martin Truex Jr and Kyle Busch, and holding off his third former teammate, Denny Hamlin, Jones was able to bask in the team’s growth with its win in the Cookout Southern 500.

“I was like, holy cow, this is a gift from above, right?” Jones said. “I felt like it’s a sign. I can’t give it up at this point. I’ve never had anything like that happen in my racing career.”

After the win, Jones said he plans to cash in on Richard Petty’s promise of a signature cowboy hat after he drove to the No. 43 to its 200th all-time win, as Petty earned 192 of his 200 wins in the 43. This marks the first win for the team under the banner of Petty-GMS Racing. Originally, GMS Racing, who had been racing in other NASCAR National Series for several years, looked to make the jump up to Cup in 2022 with a single-entry with Ty Dillon. That all changed when a merger was announced between Richard Petty Motorsports and GMS Racing, making the team a two-car operation.

“Obviously I was a little in a bad spot towards the end of 2020 trying to find a new home, and the 43 car became that and took me in,” Jones said. “I knew at the start there was — it was a long-term outlook for me at least. I was like, all right, we’ve got to settle in and build and figure it out. It’s not like I just came in and did that. There’s a lot of great people that came in and were a huge part of that, to build to where we are now.

“But it’s just been cool to see, cool to be a part of. Coming from a four-car powerhouse team like I was at to what was a single-car team last year to now a two-car team this year and building into a race-winning program now has been very … probably the most rewarding of my racing career.”

Denny Hamlin went on finished second in the race behind his former teammate, Tyler Reddick was third, followed by Joey Logano and Christopher Bell. Michael McDowell, Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, and Alex Bowman rounded out the top 10 in a race that spelled disaster for some playoff contenders.

Regular Season champion Chase Elliott got into an accident on lap 113 with Chase Briscoe that decimated his 15-point advantage for winning the regular season title. Elliott was credited with a last-place finish. Kevin Harvick was having a solid run until his No. 4 Ford went up in flames on lap 275. Martin Truex Jr and Kyle Busch with almost 20 laps to go suffered terminal problems with their cars that ended their nights behind the wall instead of in victory lane.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads next for the second race in the Round of 16 to Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400. The race will be Sunday, September 11 at 3 PM EST on USA/MRN.