BROOKLYN, Mich. — Entering Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Michigan International Speedway, Brandon Jones sat 61 points below the playoff elimination line with six races left in the regular season.
Seven stage points and a season-best third-place result later, the driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet leaves the Irish Hills with a boost of momentum and sit 45 points out, 16 points closer to cracking the 12-driver postseason field.
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Through 20 races in the Xfinity season, Jones lacked the type of results expected after shifting organizations from Joe Gibbs Racing to JR Motorsports, scoring just one top-five finish at Martinsville Speedway in April. He’s been the only driver for JRM to fall outside the preliminary playoff field with Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer locked in with wins and Josh Berry with a 100-plus point cushion to the elimination line.
With a good chunk of races to go before the playoff field is set, Jones feels like there’s a path to the playoffs on points after his Saturday run.
“Great momentum, right? That’s what the team really needs,” Jones said. “We just gotta get going here, man, and show for the fast race cars that we’re bringing to the track every week.
“We’re still in a position to point our way in, I think. You gotta really dominate some stages and you gotta get some good finishes. I think that’s the key to it. I don’t think that just finishing good at the end of the day is gonna get you there, kinda have to put the whole day together. I would like to just get a win and get it over with, but there’s a chance that we can still do it.”
As a whole, the JRM stable has just two wins through 21 races compared to eight checkered flags last year after the same amount of races.
But Jones believes the organization has finally found what they need to return to the bar they set last year.
“Ever since New Hampshire I would say has been kind of our next-level point,” Jones said. “We’ve just made really good results and good changes on these cars to kinda get that speed back. I know that these cars were so fast last year, right? We went through an offseason, had a rule change and some things that I think took us out a little bit but we’re doing a great job of just not really giving up on that and continuing to work in the shop and continue to make these cars better.
“HMS (Hendrick Motorsports) is getting a little bit better involved and helping us out some there too so shout-out to those guys. We’re just continuing to grow, and I think we’re really starting to get back to where we were last year to end last year’s schedule so yeah, these past three races, really nice to see the speed back.”