Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brandon Jones claimed his first victory of the season in dramatic fashion, holding off Chase Elliott during an overtime finish at the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Chicagoland Speedway on July 5, 2026.
The race began after a five-hour weather delay, setting the stage for a challenging event.
Elliott maintained a top-five position through the first two stages, while Jones stayed just outside the lead pack before mounting a late-race charge.
The final stage featured multiple lead changes and caution periods, culminating in a side-by-side battle.
Jones made a decisive pass under Elliott just before the white flag, leading 12 of the 201 laps to secure his eighth career series victory.
In a post-race interview broadcast by CW, Jones reflected on the hard-fought win. "I had to earn that one.
Haven't had an exciting one like that in a long time. Thank you, guys, for sticking that one out through the rain and everything."
He added, "It's been an up-and-down year.
We've had some success early on; we've been in a little bit of a rut the last couple of weeks, so it's nice to do it like we did today.
We really had to earn that one."
The victory marked the third win of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing, giving the team a significant boost in the standings.
"It says a lot about just how resilient we are, and how hard we're working at this," Jones said.
"Chase made it really difficult on me. He's one of the best in the sport, so I knew it was going to be difficult.
We were all on old tires -- that was a blast to slide around and duel it out like that."
Behind the front pair, Jesse Love finished third, while Brent Crews and Austin Hill took fourth and fifth, respectively.
With this result, Jones moved from eighth to sixth in the O'Reilly drivers' championship, trailing leader Justin Allgaier by 265 points after 20 races.
