Driving the No. 33 Lucas Oil Chevrolet Silverado, Brandon Jones made his fifth start at Martinsville Speedway in the Kroger 200. Jones drove with the style of a short track veteran en route to a seventh-place finish, his career-best result at the track nicknamed “The Paperclip.”
The Atlanta native started from the 16th position in Saturday’s event and worked with a free-on-entry condition until the second caution of the race on lap 35. The following lap, crew chief Shane Huffman brought Jones to pit road for tires and fuel, accompanied by air-pressure and chassis-adjustments. Jones returned to the track in the 13th position and drove into the top 10 on lap 50. Throughout the next 71 laps, Jones worked his way into the top five while his Lucas Oil Chevy was free through the center. He worked on adjusting his entry for each corner until he was able to come to pit road under caution on lap 122. For the remainder of the race, Jones continued to run in the top seven positions, finding himself in the fourth position for a late-race caution that set up a two-lap sprint to the finish. Starting in the outside lane, Jones lost three positions on the restart, falling to the seventh position before the checkered flag on lap 200.
The seventh-place result is Jones’ career-best finish at the Virginia short track. It also marks his third consecutive top-10 result and his seventh of the 2015 season. Jones is ninth in the owner championship point standings with three races remaining on the schedule.
GMS Racing PR
