“I just wanted to try to separate myself from the competition.” Brandon Jones said this at the start of 2023, seeking a fresh start to his venture under Dale Earnhardt Jr. Driving the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Jones wanted to make waves in Xfinity. But he could not do it in 2023 – going winless and failing to crack the playoffs. 2024 has been similarly uneventful. He clinched 8 top-tens and 1 top-five, finishing 14th in the championship standings.

Despite his slide in terms of performance, Brandon Jones now has an opportunity in his hands. His JR Motorsports journey may not have been fruitful, but it throws a shadow on his past. Jones’s tenure under Joe Gibbs’ umbrella was inspiring, except for an unfortunate tussle with Ty Gibbs. And he may be getting a chance to replicate that inspiring stint – to the dismay of fans.

Brandon Jones’ second chance revealed

Joe Gibbs gave the Atlanta, Georgia native a momentum he had never seen before. Brandon Jones spent five seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing from 2018 to 2022 and witnessed a fair amount of success. He won five races and made the playoffs five times during that time. At the end of 2022, he seemed to be at the pinnacle of his performance. During the Martinsville race, Jones won the pole and led 98 laps. It looked like he was about to make a magnanimous statement by winning and locking into the Championship 4 race. However, his teammate Ty Gibbs bumped his No. 19 Toyota in the last lap and shattered his dreams.

Jones was visibly upset at Gibbs after being wrecked. “I don’t really understand the move. I understand trying to get aggressive-you want to win the race. But to just destroy the race car, I don’t see it. I don’t get any satisfaction from it. Maybe he does. Maybe he likes to win that way? But I never have and never felt strong about racing that way. So, we’ll just take it and go for it.” To add to that, Gibbs had already secured his spot in the Championship 4, which made his move even more questionable, considering he ruined his teammates’ chance of joining him there.

Come 2023, Jones shifted to another team and another OEM but failed to retrieve that momentum he had achieved prior to Gibbs’ mess. Yet now, a NASCAR rumor is on the table that Jones will have another go at JGR. A recent Reddit post shows Brandon Jones standing beside somebody resting a hand on his shoulder. A big yellow card reading ‘Guess who?’ is pasted on his company’s upper profile. However, the caption accurately sums up fans’ suspicions: Looks like “@BrandonJonesRac will pilot the 20 for JGR in 2025.”

When Brandon Jones set off his 2024 season, he was gearing up for a good season. From taking sessions with a sports psychologist to religiously following a workout regime, he took various measures. A pain point for him and the No. 9 team was avoiding wrecks – a multi-car crash in August 2023 saw Anthony Alfredo sliding up to him and wrecking him. Jones confessed that his healthy routine aimed to make his racing stint better. “Doing a cold plunge, doing insanely hard workouts is not gonna make me win a race, probably not. That’s not the key to winning a race, but if I can come into the weekend just that little bit up even if it’s just in my own head.” Now with another shot at Toyota and Joe Gibbs, this routine may just show results.

However, fans are not so optimistic.

NASCAR community pours water on new prospect

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After all, getting a chance under Joe Gibbs is a golden dream for NASCAR racers. JGR is one of stock car racing’s premier race teams, fielding veteran drivers like Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell in the Cup Series. So giving a JGR slot to Brandon Jones who could not crack the Xfinity playoffs for a second time in a row seems fishy to one fan. “In other words JGR needs his dad’s money so you can have your ride back.” Jones is the son of JR Jones, CEO of Rheem Comfort Products who has sponsored Joe Gibbs Racing.

Then Jones’ horrible fate this year also rings an alarm bell. He encountered crashes at Portland and Sonoma and an engine failure at Iowa, all ending his day prematurely. So another fan wrote, “It’s so insufferable that he just keeps getting top rides and is just so damn below mid. Seeing Brandon Jones announcements on getting new rides is like being excited about living off of room temperature milk from a platypus.” 

Some people pointed out that even if the rumor is true, it would not do Brandon Jones so much good. Back during his JGR tenure, the driver excelled in the No. 19 Toyota car. The picture that spurred off the rumor shows a car with a faint 2 painted on its hood – indicating Jones’ new ride to be the 20. “Seems like a pointless change considering he was in the 19.” Somebody else also pointed out Jones’ horrible luck in vying for a championship, especially after Ty Gibbs raced him dirty. “He’s literally 390ish days removed from being all but locked for the final 4 and got Pat Tillman’d by Ty.”

Other people harped on the fact that Brandon Jones may be garnering more attention than he should. Two consecutive years of mid-level performance in top-level race cars may mean a disastrous exit for any other driver. However, Jones’ favored spot is puzzling and angering fans. Somebody wrote: “The dude needs to quit. He hasn’t had success in arguably the two best cars in the field.” Another fan was simply confounded by the attention on him: “We don’t give a damn bro 😭 like seriously none of us care that much about him lmao.”

Evidently, Brandon Jones’ 2025 news is not hyping up fans too much. As the season rolls around, only time will tell if he can improve his career or not.