Brandon Jones, driver of the No. 33 Russell / Kramer Refrigeration Chevrolet Silverado for GMS Racing, made his second start at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) Friday night, extending his streak of top-10 finishes to four in a row.
Jones began the 147-lap event from the fourth position and got to work searching for the fastest line around the track. Running in fourth just before the first round of green-flag pit stops on lap 44, Jones reported he was free on the top, and tight-center to exit when running in the bottom groove. Crew chief Shane Huffman called Jones to pit road for four tires, fuel and a slight air-pressure adjustment with Jones returning to the track in the ninth position and re-entering the top five just one lap later. On lap 54, Jones entered the third position just as the only caution of the night waved for debris. Making the call not to visit pit road, the Russell / Kramer Chevrolet remained on track to restart from the third position with Jones reporting a secure balance. When the field returned to green, Jones found himself battling to maintain his top-five run against trucks that had taken tires during the caution. Jones fell as far back as ninth position before coming to pit road for the last pit stop of the night on lap 97. The No. 33 Russell / Kramer Refrigeration team gave Jones four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment to alleviate a “tight-center-exit” handling condition with Jones returning to the track in the eighth position. The WinStar 350 stayed green for the remainder of the event as Jones continued to look for additional speed in the waning laps.
Jones crossed the finish line in the seventh position for his eighth top-10 finish of the 2015 season and his best finish at the Fort Worth track. The No. 33 is ninth in owner championship point standings with two races left in the season.
BRANDON JONES QUOTE:
“I am really proud of how well our Russell / Kramer Refrigeration team did tonight. We were running lap times consistent with the leaders and spent some time in the top three, but it’s tough to chase a transitioning track when the only chance you have to make adjustments is during green flag pit stops. The GMS Racing guys gave me another fast Chevrolet and we made great improvements to our 1.5-mile program, so it’s great to see the rewards of that in another top-10 finish. We have a lot of momentum going into these last two races and I’m excited for us to finish out the season strong.”
GMS Racing PR
