DAYTONA BEACH, FL.: A windshield tear off cost Brandon Jones an opportunity to win his fifth career NASCAR Xfinity Series win in Friday night’s Wawa 250 fueled by Coca-Cola at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver fired off from the third position his No. 19 Menards | Patriot Lighting Toyota Supra and contended for the early race lead – but while at the front of the main pack of cars, water began to emerge from the overflow – a clear indication that Jones’s car was overheating.
The Atlanta, Ga. native remained on track for several laps before pitting at Lap 9 to remove the windshield tear off that covered the grille opening of Jones’s race car.
Returning to the track on the lead lap, his solo effort around the 2.5-mile superspeedway without the benefit of a drafting partner saw the leaders overtake him at Lap 13.
The competition caution waved at Lap 15, putting Jones back on the lead lap, but even with a little luck on their side, it was too late, the damage had already been done.
After circling back on the lead lap, Jones pitted so his Joe Gibbs Racing team could put water back in the engine and allow Jones to finish the race.
Unfortunately, the damage to the powerplant was terminal and the team quickly realized their night was over.
The No. 19 Toyota Supra headed to the garage as the NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers headed to pit road under red flag conditions after a strong but quick rain shower soaked the “World Center of Racing.”
“First off I want to thank Menards and Patriot Lighting,” said Jones. “They do a lot for our race team and do a lot for our race team. I hate to go out like this. You don’t expect to go out like this at Daytona.
“You’re either on the hook or you’re doing really well. At this point in the race, I thought we were doing really well. I don’t know, man. I’ve only had this happen one other time where we pushed that much water out of this thing.”
Jones said he was surprised at how quickly everything unraveled.
“I just think we picked up something on the front end of our Supra there,” he explained. “We were pushing a lot of water out for a couple laps and they don’t run good without water in them. I was surprised with how fast it went. Obviously, I think me and Jeff (Meendering, crew chief) are beating ourselves up pretty hard right.
“We both probably would’ve done something different there to try and get that off. When you’re out front like that no one really wants to try to work with you and try to get it off your nose.
“Obviously, for the reasons of a competitor, I wouldn’t want to do that. It is what it is.”
Jones will be credited with a 40th place finish and bookmark his trip to Daytona Beach, Fla. this season with two extremely poor finishes.
In the Xfinity Series season opener in February, Jones also showcased a fast race car but an accident 60 laps into the 122-lap event started off his sixth fulltime season of Xfinity Series competition on a sour note.
Following Daytona, Jones is three races away from making the Xfinity Series Playoffs for the fifth time in his career.
The Xfinity Series heads to Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Sept. 4, 2021, an event where Jones is the defending champion. Last fall, he stole the race from Ross Chastain leading the final two laps of the race.
“I’ve got a group of warriors on our 19 team,” added Jones. “Michigan was great – that was awesome to see our speed there at Michigan so we’ll rally from that and use some momentum there. Darlington is a great track for us next week. We won there and looking to get another one.”
The victory was Jones’ third and final triumph of the season.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
