Brandon Jones Wins his First Career Xfinity Race at Kansas

KANSAS CITY, KS – RIS – Bradon Jones escaped the carnage and held on to win his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series Kansas Lottery 300 race at Kansas Speedway on Saturday.  Jones got his chance when a lapped car wrecked what was shaping up to be an entertaining duel between playoff contenders Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell.  After that, drama ensued. 

Fellow playoff contenders Cole Custer and Tyler Reddick got into a pit-road melee after getting out of their cars. Custer was upset at the way Reddick raced him in the closing laps of the first race in the round of eight in NASCAR’s version of the playoffs.

Reddick finished second and Briscoe rallied to finish third, while playoff drivers Michael Annett and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five. Custer was 11th with Bell, who had led most of the race, behind him.

“It’s fine if he wants to wreck their cars and put their car in the wall from time to time, but when it’s me, I’m not going to be very happy,” Custer said. “I went over to say that.”

Custer put his hand on Reddick’s shoulder, and the two immediately grabbed at each other’s throats as they tumbled to the pavement. Crew members from both their teams jumped in with NASCAR officials in trying to pull them apart, and Custer dropped an expletive that was caught on the live TV broadcast

“I understand Cole’s frustration 100 percent. We were trying to lock ourselves into Homestead” for the championship race,” said Reddick, who was left with a small cut over his eye. “If you put your hand on me, I’m going to put you on your back. That’s the way it’s going to be.”

Reddick remained third behind Bell and Custer in the playoff standings, but one he had calmed down, he uttered admiration for Custer, who sits second in points behind Bell.

“I think a lot of Cole and his driving ability. I think a lot of that team,” he said. “I obviously didn’t want to get into his quarter panel, but I lift, I get passed. I hate that it happened”

 Briscoe was leading when it all went down.  The duo battled for the lead throughout the closing laps, and they were running side-by-side — Briscoe riding the wall and Bell hugging the stripe at the bottom of the track — when the slower car of Garrett Smithley moved up the track and right into their path.

Briscoe checked up, Bell got into him and both cars came away with heavy damage. Briscoe had his entire rear end sheared off and was forced to the pits to have another riveted in place, while Bell used a series of pit stops to allow his team members to reconstruct his right front fender.

“I take full responsibility,” Smithley said. “Feel awful.”

Custer had the lead on the restart until Reddick tagged him in the left rear, dropping him off the pace, and when another caution came out for Joey Gase, it was Brandon Jones suddenly in front.

He nursed the lead as a quartet of playoff contenders battled for position behind him. Allgaier moved past Reddick with five to go, and Briscoe got a big run to get around him one lap later, then set his sights on trying to chase down Jones in the closing laps.

Reddick eventually made a move for second place and that’s how they finished.

“This is incredible,” said Jones, a teammate of Bell with Joe Gibbs Racing who was knocked out of the playoffs in the last round. “I knew this was going to happen, that we were going to come here and have an amazing day. It’s been so tough to get to this point.”

Playoff contender Noah Gragson finished 13th after repeatedly tagging the wall with his right side, at one point cutting down his tire and forcing an off-schedule pit stop. Austin Cindric was 25th after an eventful day that put his hopes of advancing to Homestead in jeopardy.

Cindric got into the back of Harrison Burton during the second stage while aggressively trying to make a pass, damaging his front end. Cindric then flatted later in the stage, putting him several laps down, and the Team Penske driver wound up six laps behind the leaders.

The Xfinity drivers next head to Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, November 2nd, for a 300=mile race at yet another mile and a half speedway.

Unofficial Race Results: 19th Annual Kansas Lottery 300, October 19, 2019, Kansas Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 2, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Flow Toyota, 200, 8, 9, 1, 10, 5, 45, Running
2) 4, Tyler Reddick (P), No. 2 TAME the BEAST Chevrolet, 200, 4, 3, , , , 50, Running
3) 11, Chase Briscoe # (P), No. 98 Ford Performance Ford, 200, 7, 5, 2, 33, , 44, Running
4) 38, Michael Annett (P), No. 1 AllState Parts and Service Group Chevrolet, 200, 10, 7, 1, 3, , 38, Running
5) 7, Justin Allgaier (P), No. 7 Trademark Nitrogen/BRANDT Chevrolet, 200, 5, 4, , , , 45, Running
6) 6, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 31, Running
7) 12, Justin Haley #, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 200, , 10, , , , 31, Running
8) 15, John Hunter Nemechek #, No. 23 Fire Alarm Services Inc Chevrolet, 200, 9, , , , , 31, Running
9) 13, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 Night Owl Contractors Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 9, Ross Chastain(i), No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet, 200, 6, 8, , , , 0, Running
11) 5, Cole Custer (P), No. 00 Production Alliance Group Ford, 200, 2, 1, 5, 85, 1, 45, Running
12) 1, Christopher Bell (P), No. 20 Rheem Toyota, 200, 1, 2, 4, 69, 1, 44, Running
13) 10, Noah Gragson # (P), No. 9 PUBG MOBILE Chevrolet, 200, 3, 6, , , , 37, Running
14) 23, Ray Black II, No. 07 ISOKERN Fireplaces & Chimneys Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 17, Alex Labbe, No. 90  Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 21, Dillon Bassett, No. 92 Down Syndrome Awareness Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 19, Gray Gaulding, No. 08 JT Marine Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 18, Brandon Brown #, No. 86 Vero True Social Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 25, BJ McLeod, No. 4 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 27, Matt Mills, No. 5 J.F. Electric Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 30, Josh Williams, No. 36 Starbrite Star Tron/Simcraft Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 20, Kyle Weatherman, No. 74  Chevrolet, 196, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 28, David Starr, No. 52 Wilkerson Rental Chevrolet, 196, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 34, CJ McLaughlin, No. 93 SciAps Chevrolet, 195, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 3, Austin Cindric (P), No. 22 MoneyLion Ford, 194, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 35, Chad Finchum, No. 61 Garrison Homes Toyota, 194, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 29, Stephen Leicht, No. 01 The McLain Group Chevrolet, 194, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 32, Tyler Matthews, No. 15 LineTec Services Chevrolet, 194, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 31, Josh Bilicki, No. 99 Furniture Mall of Kansas Toyota, 194, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 36, Vinnie Miller, No. 78 Pit Viper Sunglasses Chevrolet, 194, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 37, Bobby Earnhardt, No. 66 CIA/Hyatt Life Sciences Toyota, 192, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 24, Joey Gase, No. 35 Page Construction Toyota, 184, , , , , , 5, Accident
33) 33, Garrett Smithley, No. 0 Flex Tape Chevrolet, 180, , , , , , 4, Accident
34) 16, Harrison Burton(i), No. 18 DEX Imaging Toyota, 70, , , , , , 0, Accident
35) 22, Bayley Currey(i), No. 17 RWR Chevrolet, 49, , , , , , 0, Suspension
36) 26, Landon Cassill, No. 89 Visone RV Chevrolet, 28, , , , , , 1, Vibration
37) 14, JJ Yeley, No. 38 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 13, , , , , , 1, Electrical
38) 8, Ryan Truex, No. 8 Marquis Chevrolet, 4, , , , , , 1, Engine
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs qualified

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 31 Mins, 10 Secs
Race Length: 200 Laps, 300 Miles
Average Speed: 119.074 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.272 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 20, 00, 9, 2, 7, 10, 98, 19, 23, 1
Stage 2 Top 10: 00, 20, 2, 7, 98, 9, 1, 10, 19, 11

Race Comments: Brandon Jones won the 19th annual Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway. His first victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Failed to Qualify: (1) 13 Timmy Hill.

Caution Flags: 8 for 41 laps;
Laps: 5-11 (Fluid From No. 8 on Frontstretch [None]);
47-51 (Stage 1 Conclusion [92]);
71-74 (No. 18, 22 Incident Turn 4 [07]);
92-96 (Stage 2 Conclusion [39]);
146-151 (No. 1 Incident Turn 2 [39]);
164-168 (No. 23 Spin Turn 2 [51]);
185-190 (No. 98, 20, 0 Incident Frontstretch [23]);
193-195 (No. 9, 35 Incident Turn 1 [07]).

Lead Changes: 12 among 5 drivers;
C. Bell (P) 1-47;
C. Custer (P) 48;
C. Bell (P) 49-61;
C. Custer (P) 62-73;
C. Bell (P) 74;
C. Custer (P) 75-93;
C. Bell (P) 94-101;
C. Custer (P) 102-151;
C. Briscoe # (P) 152-165;
M. Annett (P) 166-168;
C. Briscoe # (P) 169-187;
C. Custer (P) 188-190;
B. Jones 191-200.

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Brandon Jones, No. 19