Brandon Jones is still alive in the battle for the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and although he enters the final race of the Round of 8 in the Playoffs as the eighth seed in the championship standings, he has to have booming confidence.
Jones, who scored the win at Martinsville Speedway when the NASCAR Xfinity Series visited the 0.526-mile short track in the spring, took the pole position for Saturday’s Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville.
“Man, this is big,” Jones said after securing the pole. “We showed up here to do one thing today. We talked about it before practice and that’s just to win the race. I think everyone’s mentality has been amazing all year long but I think especially this weekend, you can just tell this team and this group is amped up to try to get to the next round.”
The Georgia native put down a lap of 19.832 sec., which equates to 95.482 mph. Jones was able to edge out Sheldon Creed by 0.031 sec. for the top spot.
This pole position is the fifth of the season for the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra.
Starting behind the front row starters Jones and Creed will be Sammy Smith and Ty Gibbs in row two.
Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier, Anthony Alfredo, Riley Herbst, AJ Allmendinger, and Jeremy Clements rounded out the top 10 starters for the race.
GRAGSON *FINALLY* GETS HOMESTEAD WIN
After being so close the last three races at Homestead-Miami Speedway, @NoahGragson finally got the job done Saturday for @JRMotorsports, advancing him to the Championship Four.#NASCAR | @hms_motorsport | @gearupgame_on pic.twitter.com/KRMZ7BuN9S
— TobyChristie.com (@TobyChristieCom) October 23, 2022
With 40 cars battling for only 38 spots, two cars, unfortunately, missed the show. The two that missed the cut were Dawson Cram in the No. 47 Mike Harmon Racing entry and Ronnie Bassett Jr. in the No. 77 Bassett Racing car.
Qualifying Results: 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Dead On Tools 250
One Response
He could do a (Daniel) Hemric here if he can win Martinsville tomorrow, as well as the Championship 4 next weekend before he moves back to Chevy with JR Motorsports next year. He could also provide a decent opportunity for Petty GMS to buy a charter and create a third car for him if Br finally feels ready to move up to Cup at some stage.