When Brandon Jones returned to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025, a trip down memory lane ensued. All five of his Xfinity Series wins came under the Toyota banner.
Jones picked up his sixth career victory in the spring at Darlington Raceway, assuring a 2025 playoff spot for the No. 20 team. He didn’t qualify for the postseason in either of his two years with JR Motorsports. The outlook now is fresh.
“It flows a lot nicer in this camp is what I’ve noticed,” Jones told Jayski.com. “Mentally, the only thing that I need to change is how do I turn the aggression up just a little bit, but not to the point of making stupid decisions and dumb moves. You see people race and it gets crazy at the end of most of these races when you have green-white-checkered and everyone starts going 105% when they need to go 95-100% and that’s when mistakes happen.
“I don’t want to get to the point where I’m making mistakes and taking us out of contention to win races, but I do want to figure out as the playoffs continue to go is how do I make good decisions with a little more aggression.”
Many times throughout Jones’ 11-year Xfinity career, he has been on the wrong side of other drivers’ aggression. This year alone, the No. 20 team had several instances in which he was collected in other drivers’ messes.
At Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Jones was running in the top five when contact from Nick Sanchez dropped him to 25th. At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Jones was third when Kyle Larson and Justin Allgaier triggered a multi-car accident, including Jones. At Iowa Speedway, he was in fifth when he spun in oil and fell to 23rd. Most recently, he was turning in one of his best road course races at Portland International Raceway and was dumped by Jesse Love in the closing laps.
Entering the playoffs with five top-five (tied for the second fewest among playoff drivers) and 10 top-10 finishes (third fewest of playoff drivers), Jones’ 2025 statistics don’t look Championship 4 caliber. But he still finished seventh in the regular-season standings, and is tied for the fourth most playoff points.
“We are way more competitive at the beginning of runs now, which is something I’ve always felt like we were strong to end the race,” Jones stated. “It was always like how do we stay up front and take advantage of the entire day rather than not getting stage points and maybe you get a fifth at the end of the day.”
One of the ingredients for the No. 20 car’s speed is sophomore crew chief Sam McAulay. Jones believes that McAulay, a former engineer for Denny Hamlin, is among the next crew chiefs in line in a deep JGR pipeline that could move to the Cup Series. As a rookie crew chief in 2024, McAulay earned 16 top-five and 23 top-10 finishes with Sheldon Creed.
McAulay believes the No. 20 team can compete at an elite level in the postseason.
“The schedule of tracks in the playoffs really suits this team and Brandon’s driving style,” he said. “We are a championship-caliber team with a driver who is more than capable of winning in every round of the playoffs.”
Jones has won at three of the playoff tracks. Based on past results, he could breeze through the Round of 12, having seven top-10 finishes in the previous eight races at Bristol Motor Speedway, including a fifth-place effort in April. Kansas Speedway is among his best venues, earning consecutive victories in 2019 and 2020, with an average finish of 8.9 through 10 starts. With three top 10s in seven starts at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, he believes the 20-turn course is his best road course.
“It’s by far the best one,” Jones said of the opening round. “The big thing is, you can’t have too many mistakes at your best tracks. I think certain things will happen, people will get into you, you might get taken out, but you have to do everything in your power to not allow stuff to happen.”
The Round of 8 also bodes well for Jones. He has 12 top-10 efforts in 17 trips to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He believes the middle race at Talladega Superspeedway will be the biggest wild card of the playoffs due to the unpredictability. He’s also a former winner at Martinsville Speedway, and was in position to sweep the 2022 races until teammate Ty Gibbs punted him on the final lap.
“What is interesting about Martinsville is the key is to not be leading with a green-white-checkered,” Jones said with a laugh. “It’s the trick; I’ve got it down to a science. Second place is the perfect position of [restarting] in third and you don’t wreck anybody, but get enough speed to get them off line and get underneath them. The whole goal of that is discipline when you do that.”
Jones is a true believer that he can make a playoff run to the championship race at Phoenix Raceway. He was victorious there in a JGR entry in 2020, with an 11.3 average finish in 19 attempts.
With a monstrous 64 playoff points and a rookie record nine victories, Jones believes regular season champion Connor Zilisch is a shoo-in for Phoenix. He would also add Justin Allgaier as a lock. The other two spots are up for grabs, though, and he thinks he’s among the favorites to get there.
“You would have to put me in the mix, in my opinion, because I’ve had good success at Phoenix,” Jones said. “I really believe we can make it to the final four. I don’t know who your last one would be if that’s the case. There are a lot who it could be.”
Jones mentioned Austin Hill, Jesse Love, Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed as other threats to make it to the Championship 4.
“The goal is to make the final four, a very realistic and achievable expectation if we perform to our full potential as a team,” McAulay added. “If we can make the final four, I am confident that we will have a great shot to win a championship in Phoenix.”