Brandon Jones: Driver, No. 51 Magick Woods Vanities Toyota
NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Overview
Event: NASCAR Hall of Fame 200, Race 22 of 23, 200 Laps – 50/50/100; 105.2 Miles
Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (0.526-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: Oct. 30, 2020 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
What You Need to Know
- Brandon Jones returns to the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Trucks Series for Friday’s penultimate event of the 2020 season at Martinsville Speedway. Jones will be making his fourth and final start for KBM in 2020. The Georgia native picked up his first-career Truck Series victory in June at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa after a fierce two-lap battle with Shelden Creed. The win came after Jones had finished in the runner-up position five times across his first 45 starts in the Truck Series. Jones returned to the No. 51 in July for the doubleheader weekend at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City where he finished 14th in the Friday event and eighth in the Saturday event. After finishing the truck race on Saturday, the Toyota driver climbed aboard his No. 19 XFINITY Series Supra and went on to pick up his fourth career series victory.
- Jones has one win, 65 laps led, seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 8.8 across 13 events for KBM since the start of the 2018 season. The Toyota driver produced a runner-up finish at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway last November in his final start of the year, which helped the No. 51 advance to the Championship 4, and eventually win the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors owner’s championship.
- The task to help the No. 51 team advance to the Championship 4 this year will be much taller after an accident in the final stage haltered a strong run for Chandler Smith and relegated the young driver to a 21st-place finish last week at Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth. The No. 51 team enters the final race in the Round of 8 in the owner’s playoffs in the sixth position, 31 points below the cutoff line for advancing. Due to Jones being an XFINITY Series regular, a win Friday night would not count towards the 51 team advancing, they must make their way in via points.
- Overall, across 48 career Truck Series starts, Jones has one win, 85 laps led, 14 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 13.0. Five of Jones Gander Trucks starts have come at Martinsville Speedway, with a best result of seventh the last time he competed at “The Paperclip” in October of 2015.
- The full-time XFINITY Series driver will be pulling double duty at Martinsville, also competing Saturday as that series returns to the 0.526-mile oval for the first time since a one-off race in 2006. The XFINITY Series race regularly at the Virginia track from 1982 to 1994. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver enters the final race in the Round of 8 four points behind the cutoff line for advancing to the XFINITY Series Championship 4. In his fifth full-time XFINITY season, Jones has compiled three victories, nine top-five and 17 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 13.3 across 31 starts.
- Overall, in 168 career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, he has produced four victories, three poles, 497 laps led, 14 top-five and 67 top-10 finishes. Additionally, he has collected five career ARCA Menards Series victories and one ARCA Menards Series East win (Iowa Speedway, 2014).
- Wes Ward, who has served as shop foreman at KBM since 2015, will serve as the interim crew chief for the No. 51 team this week while Danny Stockman serves his suspension for the wheel that fell off last week at Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth. Ward is a veteran crew chief with more than 300 Xfinity Series races on his resume, as well as 27 Gander Trucks races. He has been atop the pit box for three victories at KBM, including wins at Martinsville with Kyle Busch (2016) and Todd Gilliland (2019).
Brandon Jones Martinsville Q&A
How cool is it to introduce new partners to NASCAR through the Menards partnership?
“I think it is so cool to always have new partners coming into the sport and look forward to having a strong run with Magick Woods onboard our No. 51 Tundra this week. I think that is one thing that Menards does so well is bringing vendors and their partners into the sport, I think that is so much fun to be able to do through that company.”
The last time you raced at Martinsville was in the 2015 truck race. How will you go about preparing for two races there this weekend?
“When I saw that Martinsville was back on the XFINTY schedule for this year, I thought that was going to be a really fun time to get to Martinsville. It’s been a while since I’ve raced here in a truck or a late model. I’ve been getting lots of laps in the Toyota Racing simulator. That has been a big help and key this week for preparation. I also feel that possibly even iRacing could help in getting some extra laps before we get to the track.”
With all the action in last week’s truck race do you feel that this week’s race will be even more chaotic than normal?
“After watching last week’s truck race and seeing everything that happened, I do feel like Martinsville will be a little more action packed than it normally would. You always have this feeling coming into Martinsville that the only way to pass is the bump and run. After everything that has happened throughout the entire year, honestly, not just last week, that this is when everyone’s tempers are up when trying to make it to the final four. I think that it will be a pretty exciting race for fans to watch.”
Brandon Jones Career Highlights:
- Jones has one win, 65 laps led, seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 8.8 across 13 events for KBM since the start of the 2018 season. Overall, since making his Gander Trucks debut in August of 2013, Jones has recorded one win, 85 laps led, five runner-up, 14 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes across 48 starts.
- In the NASCAR XFINITY Series, he has registered four wins, three poles, 18 top-five and 67 top-10 finishes across 168 career Xfinity Series starts.
- Additionally, the 23-year-old driver has collected five career ARCA Racing Series victories, most recently at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in 2018, and one NASCAR K&N Pro Series win (Iowa Speedway, 2014).
- Brandon Jones No. 51 Magick Woods Vanities Tundra:
KBM-45: The No. 51 Magick Woods team will race KBM-045 for Friday’s race at Martinsville. Chandler Smith finished 12th with the Tundra in its latest outing in September at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. Kyle Busch captured KBM-45’s lone win in its debut race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in 2017.
KBM-45 Performance Profile:
Starts
Wins
Average Start
Average Finish
Laps Led
14
1
9.0
9.0
235
KBM Notes of Interest:
KBM drivers have collected eight wins, five poles, 962 laps led, 22 top-five and 36 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 8.6 across 54 starts at Martinsville
Todd Gilliland picked up the organization’s most recent victory at the 0.526-mile oval last October. Kyle Busch (2017 & 2019). Denny Hamlin (2011 & 2012) and Darrell Wallace Jr. (2013 & 2014) have also each collected two victories while Noah Gragson (2017) has one win.
KBM holds the NGROTS records for most career wins (80) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). In addition to collecting a series-record seven Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers: Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
With 34 victories, the No. 51 is the winningest number in KBM’s Truck Series stable.
