NASCAR
Brandon Jones wins Kansas Lottery 300, Locks into the Round of 8
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – For the third time at Kansas Speedway and second time this season, Brandon Jones is victorious. The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 started Saturday on pole, but had to methodically battle through other strong contenders to find the front late. Jones is now Round of 8 bound for the fourth time in his career. This experienced team now has eyes set ahead to a realistic shot at the championship finale in Phoenix.
Early laps saw reigning Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier on rails. JR Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet took command on lap 14 and drove off to a five-plus second advantage for Stage 1. The three-time winner this season would go onto sweep both Stages chasing a max-points afternoon.
A slow pit stop after Stage 2 would set Allgaier back, however, and put the No. 7 on the offense for the rest of the afternoon. This opened the door for rookie Connor Zilisch and veteran Brandon Jones. The past Kansas winner had the better long run car, and got the upper hand over Zilisch.
The true turning point of the race would be a yellow for a spinning Justin Bonsignore with 45 laps left. At this point, Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer both stayed out to save tires for a possible last caution. This Hail Mary move never panned out with another yellow, allowing Brandon Jones to pick up a third Heartland trophy.
.@BrandonJonesRac and @ConnorZilisch are engaged in a BATTLE right now for the lead. pic.twitter.com/4QlSaoAhxa
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) September 27, 2025
“Man, that was exactly like how we needed that to go down,” Jones said. “Those huge two second place stages, first would have been nicer, but I’m not going to get greedy with that. Two really saw it stages, and I mean, just no mistakes. Entire day was so well executed. That’s probably by far, in my career, my most well-executed race to date. I’m just so proud of these guys. We work so hard the entire week to get here and to put races like this together. I was so happy that it went green. I know for the fans, they want to see action. But I was just praying for long runs because this car was so good there. But as fast as Xfinity Mobile all day, we had people from Spectraside, Hot Shots, Rejuvenate, and Menards this weekend come to racetrack. So always a blast to win in front of them, get Menards another win, and onto the next round, man, I’m pumped.”
“Just huge, I mean, we’ve always been a contender at Vegas, we haven’t been able to get that done just yet there. But we’ve always been so fast to that racetrack. I feel like with this momentum we have here this weekend, really peaking at the right time with these racecars is crucial. So I’m excited for that one. We’ll go to the Roval, have some fun with it. Road racing has been a lot more fun here recently. I’ve been working on that craft a bunch, and we’ve been really fast here as of late on our preparation simulation-wise for the Roval. So we’ll go there and have a good day and have fun. But yeah, whatever happens there is really no big deal at this point. We’re going to continue to go on and a lot of good rounds in that next round for us.”
While second was not the win for Connor Zilisch, he still also took a Round of 8 berth on points. This runner-up result also sets an all-time Xfinity Series record 16th-straight top-five for the rookie. The 88 just beat out contenders Austin Hill, Sammy Smith, and Sheldon Creed. The rest of the top-10 were: Taylor Gray, Jesse Love, Nick Sanchez, Brendan ‘Butterbean’ Queen, and Dean Thompson. Despite fading to 13th on his older tires, Allgaier also clinched a Round of 8 spot. The rest of the Playoff grid can be seen below.
Updated @NASCAR_Xfinity Series Playoff standings following @kansasspeedway, where 3 drivers secured a Round of 8 berth.
9 guys are going for the final 5 spots next week from the @CLTMotorSpdwy Roval. #KansasLottery300 #NASCARPlayoffs #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/tVBagUBApy
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) September 27, 2025
The Xfinity Series Playoffs go from 12 to eight after next week’s Blue Cross NC 250 from the Charlotte Roval. The seventh road course race of the season has the potential to be the most pressure-packed event yet with so much on the line for the Series’ best. The green flag flies Saturday at 5 p.m. ET on The CW, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Connor Zilisch enters as the overwhelming favorite, but the Roval has produced chaos aplenty before.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Sean Gardner/Getty Images
