Erik Jones is arguably one of the top drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series at the Darlington Raceway. Yes, the sample size is very small, but in five career starts on the 1.366-mile South Carolina race track, he’s yet to finish outside of the top 10.

On Wednesday night, Jones had a lot on his plate, but he still produced a top five result in his No. 20 Toyota. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was racing without his crew chief as he was suspended to the Toyota 500 due to Jones’ car missing two lugnuts following Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400. Then, add to the fact that his car had an unapproved adjustment before the race, and he had to come from the back in 35th.

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A new crew chief, in a shorter race (300 miles), on a track that’s difficult to make up positions on. Still, Jones was up to 12th in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2. He even made a great move on Lap 134 for the lead and would pace the 39 car field for the next 27 laps after.

His car was good but Jones used up his tires too quick. He’d fade a bit and fall to a fifth place result, his first of the season. Heading into the COVID-19 hiatus, Jones’ best result on the 2020 NASCAR season was 10th. In three of his four starts, he was 18th or worse. Now though, he was eighth on Sunday and fifth on Wednesday for three top 10 finishes over his last four starts on the season.

“We were really strong,” said Jones. “We had to start at the back. We had an unapproved adjustment there before the race and had to come from the back. But we made our way up pretty quick and got the car a lot better stop by stop. By the mid-part of the race, we were up contending in the top five and challenging for the lead. Got the lead there and led for a while till I got in the wall hard enough that it made the car drive a little bit worse. Finally got the damage fixed and got back up in the top-five, and then the rain came. Good day, and a disappointing day. Disappointed that I made a mistake and cost us a shot to win a race there, but another good points day for us and our first top five, so hopefully we can keep the momentum rolling. We’ve been a little bit better each race so far.”

He’s also finished fifth, eighth and first in his other three Darlington starts too.