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| CIA Stock Photo/Richard Petty Motorsports |
This time last year, Jones was packing up is gear and moving from powerhouse organization Joe Gibbs Racing, to the much smaller and traditional race company, Richard Petty Motorsports. This season "That Jones Boy" is putting in the hard work, and it's showing. With six top-10 finishes in 2021 and a 19.6 average finish, Erik Jones has now out performed his predecessor Darrell (Bubba) Wallace Jr., scoring the most top-10 finishes in a single season for any RPM driver since Aric Almirola in 2017.
While this season has been a lot to endure for the 25 year old from Byron, Michigan, it's been noted by Jones that Richard Petty Motorsports has a more personal and down to earth feel, something that he sees in contrast to Joe Gibbs Racing. Something that Jones had to worry about much less at Joe Gibbs Racing was sponsorship, but hes gotten by. With efforts made by the King (Richard Petty) himself, and Andrew Murstein, Jones has seen the colors of "Petty's Garage" and "Medallion Bank" adorn his Camaro for much of the season. This past weekend, it was a different story.
Goody's Headache Powders, specifically the "Cool Orange" variation, jumped along to sponsor Erik Jones this weekend in Martinsville Virginia, bringing a (Petty) blue and orange livery to the track. Goody's, which is a brand of headache medication has long been associated with Richard Petty and specifically the sport of stock car racing. After support of Petty's Grandson Thad Moffitt in the ARCA Menards Series, and now Jones in the NASCAR Cup Series, its safe to say that we can expect to see Goody's returning to sponsor Jones in some form next season.
While sponsorship has been a troublesome task for drivers at Richard Petty Motorsports, Erik Jones by far has the least out of any team driver in recent history. In the past Petty was able to bring in sponsorship from big name brands like STP, Cheerios, Betty Crocker affiliates, now as The King's reign falls further and further from current day, that task has gotten harder and harder. Even though this is the case today, Erik Jones' improvement of the team is (hopefully) enough to attract the attention of new sponsors. That is something significant for both Jones and Petty as they entered their agreement last year with little corporate backing.
Jones' story is not over this season as one race remains, the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway where he hopes to pull off an upset. Next season, with any luck, Jones will have an opportunity to improve upon his average finish continuing to make a name for himself and his team in the NASCAR Cup Series. Until then, we can appreciate what has been an relatively great run for the No. 43 team this weekend at Martinsville, and throughout the entirety of the 2021 season.
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