Brandon Jones delighted in transition to JR Motorsports

Brandon Jones isn’t foreign to switching teams and manufacturers. But he found a home at Joe Gibbs Racing for five NASCAR Xfinity Series seasons. Last September, though, Jones announced he was returning to Chevrolet with JR Motorsports. He was named the driver to take over the No. 9 car, which Noah Gragson won a series-high eight times in during the 2022 season. RELATED: Jones reveals he will drive for JR Motorsports in 2023  “I felt like this is going to fit my personal style the best,” Jones told NASCAR.com recently of his move to JR Motorsports. “JR Motorsports is very family oriented. “In retrospect, too, I struggled to figure out where I fit in with Toyota. I didn’t know where that next step for me led if it was going to be the Cup Series or what. I just felt this was the best chance and opportunity to think ahead and maybe get to that Cup Series. There are a lot more teams in the Cup Series with Chevrolet logos on them and emblems.” The hardest part for Jones was informing his No. 19 team last year that he was moving on. He believes he made many lifelong friendships at JGR, just as he did prior at Richard Childress Racing. Before Jones thinks more about moving to Cup, he wants to run more competitively in the Xfinity Series. During his tenure with JGR, he won five races, including a career-high three during the 2020 season. In one of those, he bested Kyle Busch at Phoenix Raceway, a place the 102-time Xfinity Series winner holds the record with 11 wins. But Jones also knows he’s been at the Xfinity level for some time. After beginning the circuit at age 19, the 2023 season will be his eighth as a full-time driver there. “Time is ticking away a little bit, but I still want to conquer this series really badly,” Jones stated. “Whether it’s a ton of wins, a championship, whatever it is, I want to make a name for myself in this deal. I felt like at the very end of last year, people were starting to realize it and see it.” In the waning moments of the 2022 season, Jones became a popular name in the series. Not only did he win four poles in the last 10 races, but he had an infamous run-in with former JGR teammate Ty Gibbs at Martinsville Speedway. Leading on the final lap, Jones was dumped by Gibbs for the win – a victory that would have guaranteed JGR two cars in the Championship 4. RELATED: Jones eliminated after teammate tussle with Gibbs | Joe Gibbs discusses incident at Martinsville  “I think the past is the past, and we’re over everything that happened at Martinsville,” Jones said. “It’s made us all better people. It’s gotten me a massive fanbase, so in a way, I’m thankful for that. There’s always going to be good out of the bad situations that you can take out of it.” That part of it has been “eye-opening” for Jones. The fact that he has new supporters following him and experiencing his journey only gives him additional confidence and motivation. And while Martinsville is in the rearview, Jones declined to answer a call from Gibbs following Martinsville. Instead, he sent what he thought to be a polite text message to the 20-year-old but never confronted him face-to-face. “I probably wasn’t in the best headspace around Phoenix,” Jones said of last fall. “I was over the whole year because it was exhausting. To get to that point, it’s a lot of work that you put in to get to that very last race. It’s a long season, and if you ever get yourself in a hole like we did towards the end of the year and you must win the race to do it, thought you were going to win and get taken out, I was drained. “It goes back to experience in this sport and how long you’ve been in it. I’ve worked so hard on the mental side of this sport to try to figure out how you can junk stuff like that quickly.” While Jones hasn’t gone to a sports psychologist, he does have one friend he leans on to clear his mind. He believes you need to think on a particular moment, debrief on it and then somehow forget about it. With Jones’ move to JRM, that’s exactly what he’s done. While he has an average finish of 23.5 through the first two races of 2023, the No. 9 team was in contention to win Daytona before a late-race spin. He also spun during the middle stages of the race last weekend at Auto Club Speedway, tearing the splitter off his car. He limped to a 33rd-place finish, one lap down. It hasn’t started off ideal, but the No. 9 team has high expectations for 2023. “Our expectations are to make the final four,” said Jones’ crew chief Jason Burdett, who has made four Championship 4 appearances with Justin Allgaier. “These first few weeks, we’re going to be learning each other. “I think these first bunch of races, our main goal is to just have solid days. Get some finishes under our belt and knock off some of the little things that bite you. Brandon, over the years, has had a lot of speed.” MORE: View Jones' career stats | 2023 Xfinity schedule  Jones’ main objective is to have fun. It’s something he vowed to do post-Martinsville last fall. “It’s funny because I was at the same organization for a long time, and that’s where I started to get race wins and started to grow as a driver,” Jones said. “So now, I come here and am like, ‘Uh oh, I’m restarting everything.’” The series heads to Las Vegas this weekend, where Jones has four consecutive top-10 finishes. Perhaps having a bit of fun will help add to the resume.