'Blessed': After inglorious exit, Brandon Jones pleased to be back at Joe Gibbs Racing

When the NASCAR Xfinity Series haulers rolled into Daytona International Speedway in February, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brandon Jones was at the crossroads in his career. 

Jones, 28, was about to embark on his second stint with JGR. From 2018 to 2022, he and JGR were a solid combination in the Xfinity Series, as Jones won five races and made the playoffs in all five seasons. 

In September 2022, Jones announced he would be moving to JR Motorsports in 2023, leaving the organization he had called home for the majority of his career. 

But, as Jones found out, the grass isn't always greener on the other side. In two years at JRM, Jones had just 18 top-10 finishes in 66 starts. In 2024, his teammate, Justin Allgaier, won the championship, but Jones missed the playoffs. 

That led Jones back to JGR for his 10th Xfinity Series season. 

"Looking at all the race teams, I felt that coming back to Joe Gibbs Racing was my best chance," Jones recently told Yardbarker. "They had changed a lot of the things they were doing when I was there the first time. There was a lot of new people that came into the organization.

"I was blessed that the chance was still there," Jones added. "I know that my exit from JGR [in 2022] was one that no one will ever forget, [with] the craziness that happened at Martinsville."

In October 2022, in Jones' second-to-last race with JGR, Ty Gibbs — grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs — spun into Jones during a controversial finish to a playoff race at Martinsville.

"I never burned any of the bridges whenever all that happened," Jones said. 

The lack of burned bridges was useful during Jones' stint at JRM, where he found out just how quickly poor performances can snowball. 

"When things aren't going the right way, especially 13, 14 races into the season, you're not going to miraculously turn the switch up," Jones said. "It's a very difficult thing to overcome." 

Jones and the No. 20 team had an opportunity to let their 2025 season slip away early. Finishes of 37th at Daytona, 13th at Atlanta and 30th at Circuit of the Americas left Jones 29th in the points standings after three races. But over the next 10 races, Jones did what he couldn't do at JRM, bouncing back to now reside fifth in the standings. 

Going into the eighth race of the season, at Darlington, Jones had proved he could bounce back from adversity and string good results together. But a black cloud of a 98-race winless streak still hung over the Georgia native's head. 

That changed at NASCAR's toughest track when Jones led 24 laps and earned the sixth win of his Xfinity Series career. While it may have proved the doubters on the outside wrong, Jones said it only proved to him what he already knew: He still had what it takes to win. 

"It didn't have the feel of winning all over again," Jones said. "It was like, I knew I was doing the right stuff and training the right way. You finally saw it all come together. It made me realize the importance of all the tiny little things that go into it." 

The win also was the perfect way for Jones to begin a redemption arc that has seen him reinvent himself and turn into an elder statesmen of the Xfinity Series garage. 

"I definitely came back to this place a lot different of a person than I left it," Jones said. "I think that's showing this year."

Upon the announcement that Jones would return to his Xfinity Series stable in 2025, Joe Gibbs praised Jones' "veteran leadership" (h/t Forbes). So far, that statement is spot-on.

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.