NASCAR: 5 possible replacements for Chase Elliott
By Asher Fair
Possible Chase Elliott replacements: No. 4 – Brandon Jones
For a driver who has been around as long as Brandon Jones has, it’s strange that he has not yet gotten the opportunity to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut. But given the fact that this is his ninth season (eighth full season) in the Xfinity Series, people tend to forget that he is still only 26 years old.
Jones spend the first three seasons of his Xfinity Series career with Richard Childress Racing and Chevrolet before spending the next five with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. But ahead of the 2023 season, he made the move back to Chevrolet, replacing the Cup Series-bound Noah Gragson at JR Motorsports behind the wheel of the No. 9 Chevrolet.
Jones is a five-time Xfinity Series winner and has finished in the top 10 in the point standings for five straight years, and he would have made it to the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway, a track where he has won before, last year for the first time had his teammate not wrecked him at the end of the playoff race at Martinsville Speedway.
He is the kind of driver who you get the feeling, one way or another, is going to get the chance to compete on Sundays in the near future, even if not full-time.
The start of his JR Motorsports tenure hasn’t exactly been anything special. In fact, it has been relatively lackluster, featuring just a single top 20 finish (14th place) in three starts, which could dissuade the two teams from allowing him to take on an extra role at this point.
But several tracks coming up on the schedule are tracks where he has won in the Xfinity Series, which could play a role in that decision.