Brandon Jones had a competitive race at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
AVONDALE, Ariz. — It was the day that the 28-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver needed as Brandon Jones cashed in his first top five finish of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign, finishing third in Saturday afternoon’s GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway.
The driver for Joe Gibbs Racing was able to rally the entire length of the race after qualifying his No. 20 Menards Toyota Supra in the 16th starting spot in Saturday morning’s qualifying session.
Jones lined up alongside the No. 11 of Josh Williams for the 200-lap event on Saturday afternoon and immediately went to work moving up the field early in Stage 1.
Jones filed inside the top 10 for the first time of the day on Lap 20 after passing the No. 41 Ford Mustang of Sam Mayer, driving all the way into the ninth position.
The Atlanta, Georgia native made one more pass on Jesse Love for the eighth spot in Stage 1 as Alex Bowman led all the way through to pick up the stage victory.
As the field took the restart to begin Stage 2, Jones lined up inside the top five after a great pit stop on pit road from his Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew.
Jones restarted in fourth but jumped all the way up to second on the Lap 62 restart.
A heated battle ensued with defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier for the third spot before the caution came out again for Austin Hill hitting the inside wall entering Turn 3, collecting Sheldon Creed and Dean Thompson.
The No. 20 restarted in fourth on Lap 72, clearing Allgaier by using the dogleg to claim third place.
Jones then fell back to fourth by the end of Stage 2 after Bowman drove into the third spot to complete the stage.
Jones geared up for the final stage, hanging around the top five for the majority of the final 110 laps of the event.
The fifth yellow of the day was displayed on Lap 148 after Dawson Cram went for a spin and backed his No. 74 Chevrolet into the Turn 1 wall.
As the race got back underway the driver of the No. 20 went door-to-door with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates of Aric Almirola and Taylor Gray inside the top five all the way until the sixth and final caution changed the complexity of the race after Nick Leitz spun into the Turn 4 wall with 4 laps to go, sending the race into NASCAR overtime.
Jones restarted in third for the first attempt of NASCAR overtime.
While the field entered Turns 1 and 2, Jones took the No. 20 Toyota four-wide with Allgaier, Almirola and Bowman, who surged ahead to the lead as he took the white flag with Jones running in third and Allgaier all over his back bumper.
Jones was able to survive the final circuit around Phoenix Raceway as he came to the checkered flag. Bowman got into the wall after battling Almirola for the win, with Bowman barely edging Jones out for the second position.
Brandon Jones captured a podium finish in Saturday’s GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
The third-place finish for Jones marks not only his first top five, but also his first top 10 of the season, after finishing the first three races with finishes of 37th, 13th, and 30th at Daytona, Atlanta and Circuit of The Americas, respectively.
“It was a very well-executed day,” said Jones after posting his best finish of the 2025 Xfinity Series season so far. “The whole day, I approached this race very differently than I have been, and it was basically to win at all the little things.
“This was good momentum. We haven’t started off the year great and it’s just a good overall day. Everybody’s head was in the game, everybody showed up to win the race and we’re in a stretch of races that are good for my driving style and for this organization.”
Jones looks forward to next week’s Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Speedway and exits Phoenix 20th in the series standings.
