Brandon Jones wins BetRivers 200 pole award at Dover Motor Speedway
For the second time this season, Brandon Jones wins the NASCAR Xfinity Series pole award. This time at Dover Motor Speedway. It is the third time he has won the pole at Dover, the place he earned his first career pole.
Brandon Jones didn’t have to really worry about anyone who wasn’t a JR Motorsports driver. Justin Allgaier gave him a run for his money. However, Jones bested Allgaier by 0.028 seconds.
Starting from the front, Jones will try to get his first win at the Monster Mile. He needs a good run with three DNFs in the last four races. The last time he won the pole was Martinsville, and that ended poorly.
Toward the end of the qualifying session, Riley Herbst made a huge push for the pole. However, he would fall short by just 0.012 seconds. It’s going to be Herbst on the front row with Jones.
Justin Allgaier and Austin Hill follow those two. Then it is Sheldon Creed, Kyle Weatherman, Chandler Smith, Jesse Love, Taylor Gray, and AJ Allmendinger to round out the top-10.
Dover is a tricky place to maneuver around. It is a fast, slick track and the concrete surface and high banks don’t do any favors for drivers. This is going to be a fun Saturday afternoon race. The Xfinity Series might be the best product in NASCAR right now.
Brandon Jones has not been clicking in 2024
When he was at Joe Gibbs Racing, Brandon Jones was a threat to win about two to three races a season. He was a driver you could rely on to get to the playoffs, advance, and possibly make a Championship 4.
However, he just hasn’t been the same driver at JR Motorsports. He has had fewer pole awards, although that is starting to change. Jones also hasn’t been getting the finishes JR Motorsports expects from their drivers.
Now, this isn’t just a 2024 thing. JR Motorsports as a whole struggled early in 2023. Jones didn’t get his first top-10 finish until the eighth race of the season last year. This year, he has three top-10s, but that was in the first month of the season.
Since his P7 finish at Phoenix, Brandon Jones has finishes of P16, P37, P27, P13, and P33. Jones sits 13th in the points standings. Overall, he’s just falling behind and there is seemingly no end in sight. Could Dover be the place where he turns everything around?