BROOKLYN, Mich: After a turbulent NASCAR Xfinity Series season at JR Motorsports, Brandon Jones recorded his third consecutive top-10 finish in Saturday afternoon’s Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan International Speedway gaining valuable points in his effort to make the post-season Playoffs.
On the heels of a top-10 finish last weekend at Road America (Wisc.), Jones capitalized on a well-balanced No. 9 Menards Chevrolet on a day where passing was premium to earn a third-place finish in the Irish Hills and earn his first top-five finish since finishing third at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in April.
Jones capitalized on a late race restart to challenge his JR Motorsports teammate and Michigan pole sitter Josh Berry for the runner-up position, but the momentum from Berry’s race line kept Jones at bay from contending for second – and having to settle for third and scoring just his second top-five in 21 Xfinity Series races in 2023.
“What a good opportunity at the end to capitalize,” Jones said after the race. “That’s really typically the spot you want to be in on a restart right here about second or third in line. I was really hoping that Josh (Berry) was going to be good enough to get to the No. 20 (John Hunter Nemechek) and he runs him up the track or something and that’s typically how you can win a lot of these races and sneak in there at the end.”
After finishing sixth and ninth in the opening two stages of the race, the five-time NASCAR Xfinity Series winner was able to wrestle his sixth top-10 finish of the season after a day where he described passing was more difficult than he anticipated.
“We really did have a fast Menards Chevrolet all day long. It was about track position,” added Jones. “I thought passing would have been a little easier than that but man there was so many of what I like to call sucker holes right. You think you have a big run and you take it and here comes the train of cars up top.
“Tough to manage that today for sure. It was a lot of mental games and a lot of trying to hold yourself back at times to try and make the right decision.”
With four top-11 finishes in the last four races rewinding back to New Hampshire Motor Speedway last month, Jones feels confident that his team’s recent momentum will continue over the next six weeks that will allow them to continue to forge ahead and put themselves in an opportunity to be one of the 13 coveted spots in the Xfinity Series Playoff run.
Jones is 15th in the Xfinity standings after Michigan, 45 points in the arrears to Sheldon Creed who secures the final Playoff spot in 13th. Without the benefit of a win – strong finishes and well executed races could be their only shot to achieve as many points as possible for Jones’s sixth consecutive Xfinity Series championship run.
“All in all, a phenomenal day,” exclaimed Jones. “Stage points, good finish. Let’s take this through and I think we’re going to be just fine when the Playoffs come.”
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