Erik Jones cannot rid himself of last weekend's race at Texas Motor Speedway quick enough.

Wednesday, Jones wrapped up a two-day test at Daytona International Speedway before heading for the first off weekend of the season. Before doing so, the Furniture Row Racing driver met with the media and was asked if his rookie Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season was going as he expected it would at this point.

In some aspects, yes, Jones said. In others, no, such as Texas.

"Performance-wise, other than last week at Texas, I've been really happy with where we've run," Jones said. "We've run consistently in the top 10 at Phoenix (Raceway), Fontana, Atlanta, but we just didn't get the finishes we deserved. I think at Fontana and Phoenix we really had top-five cars, but things just didn't play out at the end.

"Either way I look at it, we've done as good a job as we can, and we brought fast cars to the track. We're just learning more about how to execute, how to close these races out, and how to get the finishes we feel like we're capable of."

Following an uncompetitive 22nd-place finish in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500, Jones said there was "nothing" his team could carry forward from the day. Frustration was at an all-time high for Jones after he crashed his primary car – which had put down the fourth-fastest lap – during practice.

Aside from being caught up in a wreck in the season-opening Daytona 500, it was the first blemish of Jones' season. His average running position was in the top 11 at Atlanta (11), Las Vegas (8), Phoenix (10) and Fontana (7). In the six races following Daytona (Atlanta through Martinsville) Jones also saw his highest running position, cracking the top five.

It's proof in the pudding, as the saying goes, that the newly formed No. 77 team at Furniture Row has been just as fast as his established teammate, Martin Truex Jr. In fact, Jones is the third-highest-sitting Toyota driver in the point standings.

But as mentioned, Jones and his team, led by another rookie, crew chief Chris Gayle, have not been able to finish where they've run throughout the course of an event. Phoenix, the fourth race of the year, was Jones' first (and so far, only) top-10 finish.

"Driving the cars and getting the speed out of the cars hasn't been too big of a deal," Jones said of the biggest change in moving to the Cup Series from Xfinity. "I think we've had good speed pretty much everywhere. It's been more of a matter of everything else: the execution of getting on and off pit road, pit stops, strategy, everything that plays into these races. We're learning more about that as a team."

Easter weekend marks the first of just two off weeks the Cup Series has this season. Jones will spend it by going home to Michigan for time with family and friends. Perhaps then he'll be able to finally put Texas out of his mind.

Bristol Motor Speedway is next on the schedule, where Jones made his unofficial Cup debut in April 2015. Last year, Jones won the spring Xfinity Series race at the half-mile. None of that will matter to him when Jones arrives the weekend of March 23. The Food City 500 is just the next race where Jones will look to better his previous performances.

"It's a whole new group with Chris Gayle, who is a rookie crew chief," Jones said. "We have a lot of guys on the team that are first-year Cup guys, so we're all learning together and trying to figure it out more and more as we go."

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