Sometimes you’re doing good where you’re at, but you want more. You think you’re capable of something greater, but the environment you’re in is holding you back. A change of scenery is what you need. Similar work, for a new company. That’s all it will take to reach new heights in your career.
Sometimes you’re wrong. For one reason or another, it doesn’t work out. Over the last two seasons, Brandon Jones has learned maybe his results with Joe Gibbs Racing from 2018 to 2022 weren’t bad after all. The last two seasons with JR Motorsports have resulted in far worse results. In 2025, Jones will return to JGR, the team that gave him his best years in racing.
When Jones and JRM first began their tenure together at the beginning of the 2023 season, it would’ve been unthinkable that the Atlanta, Ga., native would ever return to Gibbs. It was somewhat of a lateral move from one of the best teams in the series to another. Both teams won three championships between 2014 and 2022. But by the end of his JGR tenure, Jones was happy to be moving on to what he believed would be greener pastures.
In September 2022, Jones announced he was moving to JRM starting in 2023. The following month he found himself on the cusp of a championship berth with his soon-to-be-former team. On Oct 29, Jones was wrecked by Ty Gibbs while leading on the final lap at Martinsville Speedway. Jones was still in the playoffs, and winning that race would’ve advanced him to race for the championship at Phoenix Raceway, one of his best tracks.
A championship was within reach, but he was wrecked by his team owner’s grandson. A tough pill to swallow for sure. The silver lining from that infamous race may have been a feeling that he was making the right move leaving the powerhouse of JGR for JRM.
As we inch closer to the playoffs, barring a surprise win in one of the last three races of the regular season, we are about to see Jones complete his two-year tenure with JRM without any playoff appearance.
Jones has a loyal sponsorship from Menards, which gives him job security. His father is the President and CEO of Rheem Comfort Products. This provides an opportunity for a business-to-business sponsorship program that has been strong enough to stick with Jones through the ups and downs as he races in his ninth full-time season of Xfinity Series competition.
Five years with JGR yielded five wins and 35 of his 40 career top fives. The drop-off in performance after going to JRM has been somewhat dramatic. Aside from missing the playoffs (likely) both years, his top 10s have gone down, and he’s led fewer laps (78) during his whole JRM tenure than he did in any one season as a JGR driver.
And while it’s true that Jones never lit the world on fire with a dominant year at JGR, he put together several excellent seasons. Look at how good he was with JGR in 2020, where he won three races, had 10 top fives and 19 top 10s. He finished sixth in the final standings. That was one spot behind Noah Gragson and two behind Chase Briscoe. He was ahead of Ross Chastain and Harrison Burton. Believe it or not, Jones finished top 10 in points all five years with JGR. This season and the last with JRM, he hasn’t.
It’s a little like the biblical story of the prodigal son returning. We don’t know who Jones will have as teammates next year, since the rest of the JGR Xfinity driver lineup has yet to be announced for 2025, but we know who it won’t be: Ty Gibbs. That fact alone should make the return a bit more comfortable for Jones.
Will a return to JGR bring him to his prior levels of success, or maybe even higher? There is a good case to be made that it will. For reasons unknown to your author, he just clicked better with that organization. But he isn’t the only driver who left JGR for JRM and experienced a drop in performance.
Take a look at current JRM driver Sammy Smith. Like Jones, Smith moved to JRM seeking a championship. For Smith, the progression appears to have stalled. Smith won a race in his rookie year with JGR in 2023 and wound up sixth in points. This season at JRM, he’s been squarely on the playoff bubble and was below the cut line until this past weekend. He picked a great time to score more points (44) than in any prior race this season at Darlington Raceway. That good finish with stage points earned, combined with an 18th from his bubble competitor Ryan Sieg moved Smith back above the line, albeit by a mere 10 points.
Both Smith and Jones left JGR for greener pastures at JRM, but Smith hasn’t found them yet and it appears Jones never will. It triggers the mind to remember that JRM is very closely related to Hendrick Motorsports, but they are not the same. JRM has had cars that ran well behind its frontrunners throughout much of its existence.
Jones is now 27 years old. Still young enough to have greater aspirations, but beginning to move onto the older side of the Xfinity garage. His strong sponsorship might keep a Cup effort within the realm of possibility, but he is also starting to look like the Matt Crafton of the Xfinity Series, without the championship. Time will tell if the Crafton comparison is a good one or if he is more like the Stewart Friesen of the series.
With Atlanta Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway still on the schedule before the playoffs begin, Jones could steal a win and get in. With the way this season has gone, that looks unlikely. If he does miss out, he’ll be able to look forward to his JGR return and hope the grass is even greener than before.
Steve Leffew joined Frontstretch in 2023 and covers the Xfinity Series. He has served honorably in the United States Air Force and and lives in Wisconsin.