"It was an up and down day" - Erik Jones feels he could 'have had a better finish' after P8 at NASCAR Michigan race

Erik Jones is one of the drivers who are sitting below the playoffs cutline at the moment, and on Sunday night at Michigan, he had high hopes of securing his 2022 playoffs space. Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on his side. Though he didn’t manage to carry the win, Jones performed excellently, scoring his eighth top-ten finish of the season.

However, despite the performance and good finish, the #43 Focus Factor Camaro ZL1 driver still feels that he didn’t get it right in his native state. According to Jones, he had a decent car, and all he needed to do was do things a little bit cleaner.

Speaking to the media, he said:

“It was an up and down day for the FOCUSfactor Chevy. We had track position early and got up there towards the top five and just kind of got farther and farther back through the day a little bit.”

He added:

“Lost the handle a bit toward the back half of the top ten and thankfully we got that late yellow and were able to make some changes and get a good restart with about 37 laps to go and drive back up to a top 10 finish. So, solid day, had a decent car and just needed to do things a little bit cleaner, a little bit smoother and I think we could have had a better finish.”

Despite being disappointed with an eighth-place finish, it was his best score in the past three races. Prior to the Michigan race, Erik Jones had a rough day in Indianapolis, where he secured P15 after recording a P9 finish at Pocono Raceway.

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Erik Jones has had a tough 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season

Erik Jones is one of the drivers with few DNFs on his record this season. This season has been tough for most drivers, with most recording more than five DNFs.

With 15 different winners on NASCAR’s record, the possibility of a winless driver getting to the playoffs will be a difficult task. However, even with fewer winners, Jones remains in a must-win position considering he ranks 14th in the drivers’ standings with 538 points. The regular season currently only has three races to go, meaning Jones has only three shots to book a spot in the playoffs.

Failing to make it to the playoffs this season will mark his third consecutive season to be dropped in the regular season, meaning he won’t be eligible to contest for a championship until 2023.

At the moment, he is the only one to have a shot at getting to the playoffs since his teammate Ty Dillon has been experiencing tough times this season and has scored no single-digit finishes. Dillon's best finish was a P10 at Bristol. This adds more pressure to the #43 to push beyond the limits and get to that playoff spot.

A win for Jones will not only secure him a playoff spot, but it will also end his three-year win drought. At the moment, Erik Jones has only two Cup Series wins, getting his first victory in 2018 at the Daytona 500 and his second win at Darlington in 2019.