Saturday night’s rain delayed the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, which ended in heartbreak for Legacy Motor Club’s No. 43 team.
Erik Jones, running outside the playoff cutline and desperate for a victory to secure his postseason spot, saw his championship hopes disappear in the final laps after an aggressive move by Kyle Larson.
While Jones managed a fifth-place finish, his car chief Austin Pollak’s raw and unfiltered reaction truly captured the team’s devastation.
Erik Jones Questions Kyle Larson’s Aggressive Tactics
Jones had positioned himself perfectly for a potential upset victory. Throughout the 160-lap race, he was supported in a draft, describing his Toyota Camry as “dialed in” and “bulletproof.”
By lap 152, he was running in the lead pack alongside Justin Haley, Larson, and Ryan Preece, setting up his best shot at a win. Haley took back the lead for lap 153, and Jones won it back in the next lap. This back and forth went on for a few more laps until things switched up.
The two-way field suddenly turned three-way, all thanks to Larson’s aggressive charge, and Jones started falling places. Preece took the lead on lap 155 and led the next two laps. In lap 158, Haley took the lead, and Cole Custer took the lead in lap 159.
A chaos-laden field saw almost a quarter of the field charging for first place, which Ryan Blaney bested, climbing 12 places to win the race in just two laps! But Jones? Well, he managed to charge in from sub-top-15 to top-5, and that’s an achievement!
Jones kept his composure when speaking to reporters afterward, telling them, “He had me pretty spun around on the straightaway. So, either he thinks I am really good, or he was just really trying to shove me and help me out. So, I don’t know. I gotta ask him.”
“He had me pretty spun around on the straightaway, so either he thinks I’m really good or he is just trying to shove me and help me out”@Erik_Jones recalled the last few laps and a push from Kyle Larson that had him out of shape and out of contention. #NASCAR… pic.twitter.com/Z3aiWZfm7C
— Dalton Hopkins (@PitLaneCPT) August 24, 2025
Car Chief’s Viral Outburst
While Jones maintained his professionalism, car chief Pollak let his emotions fly on social media.
The former Crew Chief of the Year candidate posted an unfiltered reaction on X that quickly went viral among NASCAR fans: “We brought a bullet. @Erik_Jones wheeled the f*** outta it. Wanted this one more than ppl know. Nothing left to do but ruin their party.”
We brought a bullet. @Erik_Jones wheeled the fuck outta it. Wanted this one more than ppl know. Nothing left to do but ruin their party.
— Austin Pollak (@ACPollak) August 24, 2025
Pollak’s tweet perfectly captured what the entire team was feeling. Here was a crew that had built one of the fastest cars in the field, watching their driver execute a flawless race strategy, only to see it all unravel due to someone else’s aggressive driving.
His reference to “ruin their party” reflected the team’s belief that they had the speed to spoil Larson’s celebration until that final controversial block destroyed months of preparation.
