The last thing a busy high school student wants to do is spend extra time in the classroom when everyone else is heading home. For one adolescent, he was not staying at Lake Norman High School past the final bell of the day because he was in trouble.
But this was not your ordinary high school student. Not even close. This teenager wasn’t focused on partying, getting ready for prom, or even graduation.
Come the weekends, Brandon Jones focused on racecars. By missing classes on Thursdays and Fridays, he had to make up time for missing so much class. Cutting two full days of school to race had its price, but it was one he was willing pay, preparing for a career in NASCAR.
“Usually, Thursday or Friday is when you have to leave to go to these places, so I missed those two days just about every week,” Jones explained to Frontstretch. “They had a system where they wanted me to make up time for what I missed, so I would stay after school to try to do all that. It was tough.”
The high school, which includes approximately 1,800 students, worked extensively with Jones, like it does with other young drivers that reside in the Mooresville, N.C. area. His grades did not suffer, nor did he plan on allowing his racing career to get in the way of his education.
However, Jones’ schedule was just as — if not more — intense as any other high schooler attempting to get their future on the right track.
When commencement came last June, Jones did not walk on the stage with his peers. Instead, he was at the racetrack, preparing to make left turns during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series spectacle at Gateway Motorsports Park for GMS Racing.
The Illinois track held a graduation ceremony for Jones prior to the 200-mile race come that mid-June Saturday evening. It was not as large as Erik Jones’ spiel from Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage the year prior, but in his eyes, it was just as unforgettable. However, he didn’t get a kiss on the cheek like the other Jones.
“That was tough,” Jones said about his busy schedule. “I actually graduated on the stage at Gateway [Motorsports Park] last year before the Truck Series race. It was tough, just getting back every week and trying to cram all of that stuff in before the race weekend again. They worked with us pretty well, though, in Mooresville and it was good.
“It is something that you kind of start dreading at the end. I was so wiped out from the racetrack, trying to get there all week while trying to focus that was pretty difficult.”
Finished with high school, Jones’ concentration is set on his career in the fast lane. As he took a sigh of relief, Jones explained just how happy he was to be finished with his high school career. But that does not necessarily mean his schooling is over.
Jones might go to college down the road. It is something he has discussed with his family and team. The team Jones drives for, Richard Childress Racing, supported Cup Series regular Austin Dillon when he started attending High Point University part-time in 2009.
But for now, Jones believes the opportunity to race exceeds that of attending college.
“I guess if you can make a career out of this, you’ll be pretty good,” Jones said. “But it doesn’t last forever. It’s kind of a young man’s sport in a way. You aren’t going to stay here forever. Trying to get skills out of this might transfer over to something after you stop racing.”
With college not in Jones’ plans for the immediate future, his education is materializing on the racetrack.
RCR announced last September that the Georgia native will pilot one of its XFINITY Series cars full-time in 2016. The move created some shuffling and re-branding within the organization, putting the rookie driver in the No. 33 car, one that had been split between the team’s Cup Series drivers since taking over Kevin Harvick, Inc. in 2012.
“It’s pretty cool to go out there and compete against the guys you grew up watching, like Kyle [Busch] and all of those guys,” Jones said with a wry smile. “You followed them as you grew up, and now you are door-to-door with each other. It’s a very neat experience for sure.”
Running five races for the Chevrolet-backed organization last year, Jones earned a top 10 right off the bat at Iowa Speedway, finishing eighth. His effort was followed by three straight finishes of 13th or worse during the second Iowa race, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Bristol Motor Speedway. However, he ended the season with his first career top 5, leading 16 laps en route to a fifth-place result at Kentucky Speedway.
As the journey continues for Jones, his father, JR Jones, President and CEO of Rheem Manufacturing Company, is starting to take a step back. Throughout the first few years of his career, Jones’ cars were soaked in the Rheem black and red schemes, similar to that of Kevin Harvick and others in the Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series.
The elder Jones has not put his company’s logo on one of his son’s race vehicles since 2013 in the K&N Pro Series East with Turner-Scott Motorsports. While Rheem continues to sponsor RCR’s No. 2 XFINITY Series car with the elder Dillon, it will not back Jones. Last year, the company was the primary sponsor for 15 events with Dillon behind the wheel after sponsoring RAB Racing’s James Buescher for 24 events in 2014.
With Jones forced to find funding for his motor sports ventures, he is being schooled in marketing.
Through 10 races in 2016, Jones’ racecar has featured 10 organizations, including the Texas Rangers at Texas Motor Speedway in April. Partnering with Major League Baseball to cross-promote the vastly different sports, the teenager has created a focus on bringing new concepts to the NASCAR realm. As part of the joint-effort between the Rangers and RCR, he piloted a baseball-themed paint scheme and threw out the first pitch on April 6 against the Seattle Mariners — the third game of the Rangers’ season.
⚾️'s #️⃣3️⃣3️⃣ with <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/72x72/1f3ce.png" alt="