NASCAR’s Brandon Jones will focus on just one race, not three, at Kansas Speedway
NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Brandon Jones can’t get enough of Kansas Speedway.
Jones will be making a track-record fourth start in one season at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night when he pilots the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota in the Kansas Lottery 300.
Jones, 23, not only won his second straight Xfinity race at Kansas Speedway last July, he also competed in both NASCAR trucks races that weekend. He plans to take it a little easier this weekend.
Jones is devoting his full attention to the Xfinity race, where he opens the Round of 8 in the playoffs sixth in the standings. In addition to wins at Kansas and Darlington this season, Jones won last March at Phoenix, site of the Championship 4 season finale.
So he’s brimming with confidence.
“I came into the playoffs with some wins, with some really good runs,’’ said Jones, who this week agreed to a contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing. “I knew if I could get into this round, it was going to be awesome. It would be the cherry on top if we can get to the final four and compete for this championship. That’s what we’re going to do. We’ve made it this far and we’ve got some really good tracks coming up, so if I can get to Phoenix, they’re going to be in trouble, I think.
“I have no doubt we can win Kansas and Texas and that transfers me to the last one, and I’ve got some really good tricks for Phoenix I learned earlier this year that will really help when we get there for the last race.”
The foundation for such bravado was established last year at Kansas Speedway when Jones, who was out of playoff contention, sped away on two straight restarts and claimed his first career win in his 135th Xfinity start.
“That was my breakthrough moment,” he said. “That was the moment that, ‘OK, you’re studying the right things, we’re putting it all together, it’s starting to happen for you now.’ It’s been so close in the past. Things happen. You blow a tire … motors… people take you out of a race. It seems like every week something is going to happen.
“It was so comforting, so relieving to finally see you can do it … having the mindset you’re capable of getting into victory lane, and that really transferred over to this year.”
Jones’ win at Kansas in July was just as dramatic as last year’s. Restarting from seventh-place in the second overtime, Jones grabbed the lead from Austin Cindric, who was less than one lap from tying Sam Ard’s series record of four straight victories, a feat accomplished in 1983.
It was Jones’ third race in 24 hours in searing summer heat, and he was spent afterward.
“The heat was big time,” he recalled. “Going from the truck that morning to the Xfinity car that afternoon is always a challenge. You hope you’re not going to be too exhausted, you hope you prepared your body, you have enough water in your system for two races in a day. “
Driving in the two trucks races gave him valuable track time before the Xfinity race, and he plans to double up next week at Texas Motor Speedway, like Kansas a 1.5 mile tri-oval.
“I didn’t have the truck to compete for a win last year,” he said, “but in the Xfinity race, I knew when the line was going to move around, I knew how the tire was going to react, and if you can race in anything before, it’s going to help you.
“You’re going to be better on re-starts, and it ended up coming down to a late restart, and that’s what won it for us. So there were a few things that carried over.”
Still, racing just once this weekend should be a cakewalk.
“Your mindset going into this, is you don’t have near as much as you had before,” Jones said. “It should be a third of what the difficulty was doing three races.”
Kansas Speedway TV schedule
Friday: ARCA Menards Series Kansas 150, 7:30 p.m. CT, FS1/FS2
Saturday: NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Clean Harbors 200, 3 p.m. CT, FOX
Saturday: NASCAR Xfinity Series Kansas Lottery 300, 6 p.m. CT, NBCSN
Sunday: NASCAR Cup Hollywood Casino 400, 1:30 p.m. CT, NBC