Jones Ends Three-Year Drought With Darlington Xfinity Win

Brandon Jones celebrates with a burnout after winning Saturday at Darlington Raceway. (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Brandon Jones might not have had the dominant car Saturday at Darlington Raceway, but much like the driver he honored with his throwback paint scheme, he found a way to be in the right position when the chips were down.

Carrying the colors of NASCAR Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth – who made a career out of striking quietly to win races – Jones ascended to the front of the NASCAR Xfinity Series field late in the Sport Clips Haircuts/VFW-Help a Hero 200 and drove off during a sprint to the finish.

With fresher tires on a restart with 12 to go, Jones charged forward from the inside of the second row, passed late leader Brennan Poole and never looked back en route to his first Xfinity Series win in three years.

Jones drove off from eventual runner-up and Cup Series star Chase Elliott by 1.105 seconds, taking the checkered flag for his sixth career win before letting out a burst of emotion on the cool-down lap.

“That’s what this team is about!” Jones exclaimed before going into a lengthy, and smoke-filled, celebratory burnout in front of the frontstretch grandstands.

It was Jones’ first victory in 98 races – a drought that dated back to April 8, 2022 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway – and his second at the venerable facility known as the Track Too Tough to Tame. It also came in Jones’ eighth race back with Joe Gibbs Racing after a lackluster two-year stint at JR Motorsports.

To win against the level of talent that he did, at a track where “there are no lucky wins,” was something that put a huge smile on Jones’ face when he climbed out in victory lane.

“This is just one (race) I wanted to make a statement in,” said Jones, who led just 24 laps Saturday. “To have Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott … some extremely talented Cup drivers in this field today, it’s special when you can race those guys and even greater when you can beat them. Every part of our team was unbelievable all day. That’s what it takes to win these races. Everyone needs to buy in, and everybody’s got to be at their highest level.

“I had a restart with some of the best there at the end, and knew it was going to be tough with some of the guys up front on older tires, but we got it done,” he continued. “What an insane couple years it’s been … to get back over here (to JGR); to get back mentally to where I know I’m back in a really good race car [that can] win races again, it just feels really good.”

After the first 90 laps ran with only one debris caution aside from the stage breaks, the final stage saw three crashes in the final 36 circuits that shuffled the deck and ultimately helped Jones move into position.

A brilliant pit stop during the race’s fourth caution, brought out when Jones’ teammate Taylor Gray spun on the frontstretch, allowed Jones to choose up to the front row and lead outright on the ensuing restart with 30 to go.

Garrett Smithley’s quick spin moments later did little to derail Jones’ momentum. Instead, it was a four-car crash in turn two with 19 to go – that eliminated Leland Honeyman Jr. and Josh Williams – that turned the strategy on its head one final time.

Brandon Jones (20) leads the field during the final restart Saturday at Darlington Raceway. (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)

During that exchange, Poole, Jeb Burton, Josh Bilicki, and Kyle Sieg stayed out, having used all their sticker tires earlier on in the race. Jones won the race off pit lane and lined up inside the second row behind Burton for the final restart, before dicing his way to the front in the end.

“What kept me going during those last few laps was, just telling myself, ‘It’s going to work out. There won’t be a caution. It’ll be fine,’ “ Jones recalled. “How many times have we seen that, where there’s a caution right at the end with a few to go and then people get used up on a restart, right? Man, it’s just nice to have it all work out.

“We fired on all cylinders today. Everybody did with our No. 20 group. This is huge momentum for us.”

Elliott never led a lap all day, after being involved in a three-wide skirmish in stage two that damaged the right-front corner of his Chevrolet, but still had enough speed in the closing laps to claw out a second-place finish.

After getting out front three times for a race-high 56 of 147 laps, including winning stage two, Allgaier ended up third in the latest oh-so-close moment of his championship defense with JRM.

He had to rally late, after a crew member fell down on his penultimate pit stop in a miscue that put Allgaier outside the top 10 for a brief period.

“I’m disappointed,” Allgaier admitted afterward. “We were able to get the track position back, at least for the most part, but clean air was too important today. When we were up front, we had it. I just really needed the long runs, and we didn’t have that at the end of the race.

“I am proud of Brandon Jones, though,” added Allgaier of his former teammate. “I know how hard the kid has worked; he’s done a good job and I’m happy to see him get (back) to victory lane.”

Ross Chastain, another Cup Series star, surged from 27th to fourth in a rare Xfinity Series appearance.

Rookies Carson Kvapil, Connor Zilisch, Christian Eckes, and Nick Sanchez were fifth through eighth, respectively, with Sammy Smith and Sheldon Creed closing out the top 10.

Harrison Burton topped stage one on tire strategy and came home 13th for AM Racing, while Christopher Bell – who started on the pole and led the first 27 laps – got squeezed into the wall by Chastain during the final stage and faded dramatically with a left-front tire rub.

Bell ended up 25th. He’s one of four drivers – along with Elliott, Chastain, and Austin Hill – doing double duty by also racing the Cup Series event Sunday.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads next to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for the first spring race at the high-banked concrete oval since 2019.

Broadcast coverage of the SciAps 300 is slated for Saturday, April 12 at 5 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.