Toyota Racing – Brandon Jones
NASCAR Xfinity Series Quotes
FORT WORTH, TEXAS (November 1, 2019) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brandon Jones was made available to media at Texas Motor Speedway:
BRANDON JONES, No.19 iK9/Musket Powder Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
When you are coming off turn 4 with some fast cars still behind you in contention, what is going through your head?
“I think those last four laps were the longest four laps of my life. I’ve won a lot of different races throughout different stuff. I think the Xfinity level is one of the most competitive series we have in NASCAR. After every lap I would look in the mirror after a corner and see how much more they had gained on us, I could tell that they were catching a little bit – but not as fast as I was thinking they were. It was definitely nerve wracking. I know I mentioned after the race that I wasn’t even sure if I was wide open on the throttle at times. That just goes to show how much nerves were going on through your mind. I was trying to do everything I could at the end. I knew that maybe the top line was maybe the quickest, but for me it was risk versus reward at that point. I didn’t want to get up there and brush the wall or do anything crazy and have that put us out of contention. I was taking the safe route around the track for those last four laps. I knew if we were able to get clean air that was going to be key.”
All I could think about you for those last few laps was how many times I had seen you get this close.
“We have. That’s what my problem was. We’ve had everything go wrong and we’ve been in this position many times. I just wanted to get to the end. That was the biggest thing, and we did. That was great. There has been so many other times this year that I feel like that chance was there and we just came up a little bit short. I’m looking forward to the last three races. We’ve got three good tracks. Texas has always been one of my favorite mile-and-a-half tracks to come to. We’ve been in contention at this track multiple times too. Just had some misfortunes here. I’m looking forward to it. This would be one of my favorite tracks to win at. Obviously with my lifestyle being more on the country side, you get the cowboy hat in victory lane and that would be a fun day.”
Cool temperatures this weekend. You will practice in cool temperatures as well, so maybe not a big swing. How sensitive to the weather do you think Texas is?
“It will be interesting. I think the temperature is going to stay close to the same, but the sun is going to be a little different once we go to nighttime and the race. I’m sure it will change a little bit, and I think that’s where Jeff Meendering (crew chief) does a great job. He knows exactly what the change is going to be; he knows exactly what to adjust for. We’re probably going to talk about it a little bit before we get on track and see where we want to end up at the end of practice. I’m sure it’s not going to be close to being perfect. You want to be on the looser side or the tighter side depending on how he thinks the track swings for a nighttime race. That definitely goes through our mind here.”
How nice is to get next year’s deal done at this point?
“It’s a big weight off of our shoulders. Any driver right now is fighting to get some stuff going, and that was really big for us to be able to come back for 2020.”
Do you have Cup aspirations ultimately?
“Eventually, yeah. That is where I want to be. I mentioned earlier in the year, if I ever get to the point where we are racing Cup and we are doing it full-time, I want to be able to step into the year before and maybe run five races and see what it’s like. See how the competition is. I know it’s gotta be stiff. I know those guys really race hard. We have guys come down from the Cup level and race Xfinity and so you definitely get a taste for it there. It would be interesting. I don’t know how long a race would be on your body either. There is a lot of unknowns there for a driver, but ultimately, that’s where I want to be in Cup.”
You feel like once you get one, the doors will finally open?
“Absolutely. That’s big. I know when I was racing in the ARCA series even, the first win was tough to get and the next week we blew by everybody and it was a piece of cake. I think it’s a mindset thing. You have the mindset of you think you can do it, but every time you get in a car and you’re having tires go flat or you’re have people wreck you and stuff – it kind of gets to your head a little bit, so it’s always good to get back on track, winning races and doing really well. I think that’s really big for team morale and even myself.”
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