Erik Jones arrived at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday with a new look on his No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE and an old problem on his mind: how to leave a superspeedway race with something useful even if the finish goes wrong. LEGACY MOTOR CLUB made Jones available to the media on April 24, 2026, before the NASCAR Cup Series race, and he said the Doritos branding on the car was a welcome addition alongside Dollar Tree, which he called a huge partner for the team over the last three years.
Jones said the car looked cool and said he was excited for the exposure the brands would get this weekend. He also pointed to the Oscar plushie sold online, saying all proceeds go to the Erik Jones Foundation and that the plushie benefits the charity directly. Oscar, he said, remains a big race fan even if he does not come to the track as often now because he is older.
The bigger question at Talladega was not the paint scheme but the points system. This is the first Talladega race with the stage-point change, and Jones said it does not alter his approach much. If anything, he said, it makes the race more aggressive because stage points are probably more important than ever. His view was blunt: a driver who can collect top three stage points in both stages can still salvage a decent day even after getting wrecked late.
That thinking fits the way Jones and LEGACY MOTOR CLUB have approached superspeedway races in recent seasons. He said Talladega is one of the places where his team has had its best chance to win its way into the playoffs, and that history shapes how hard they race there. Still, the setup is tricky. Jones said the first stage has a confusing length that could lead to different strategies, and he said there is a possibility of one-stopping it if a driver is willing to manage the run seriously.
He said the team will probably roll off mid-packish based on how its cars qualify, though he added that a qualifying lap at Talladega would not mean much to him because handling is so minimal there. In other words, the real work starts after the green flag. Jones expects the same level of aggression as ever, only now with stage points hanging over every move.
The result is a familiar Talladega calculation with a sharper edge: survive the chaos, but do not ignore the points that can still make the day count. For Jones, that means the race may be won or lost long before the checkered flag, in the stages where position matters most.