NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Brandon Jones will join the Fox Sports 1 broadcast team for Thursday night's General Tire 150 ARCA Menards Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Jones, 22, won the ARCA race at America's Home for Racing last year and will serve as the race analyst for FS1.
"I'm pretty excited about it, to be honest with you," Jones said. "This opportunity came up through Menards, which was really cool that John (Menard) reached out and wanted us to come and do that. I'm excited. I think it's going to be a fun little steppingstone to get into it. I've had some success in ARCA - we won the race last year.
"Never done anything like it yet, but I've done a lot of different types of interviews, so this will just be another one, probably."
Jones, a native of Atlanta who graduated from Lake Norman High in Mooresville, North Carolina, said he's studied past broadcasts and worked with members of the Menards racing program in preparation for the broadcast.
"I had to see what the race analysis was doing because you get so fixated on watching races and looking at the cars that you're not listening as a driver," Jones said. "I went back and studied up on that a little bit, so it should be a walk in the park tonight.
"I'll try to provide as much insight as I can. We'll make sure Menards gets plugged in there as well."
Does Jones want to be a broadcaster in the future? Maybe, but he's still young and hopes his career as a driver works out.
"I don't know; we'll see how tonight goes," Jones said. "I've always said that racing is what you want to do, it's your passion. If it doesn't work out, I've got a lot of interests. I love working with the military, I love the outdoors. There are a lot of career fields I could probably go into, but if works out good tonight, you never know."
Jones should be able to provide insight into how to get around the 1.5-mile track - and how to win here.
"This is a fun track," Jones said. "It was awesome to get a win in the ARCA series. I felt like I've been close in the truck series and in the Xfinity Series as well. The races are longer, so you have to put it together that much more. We've been close. The crew chief I've got, Jeff Meendering, has had a lot of success here, so I'm thinking this weekend is going to be good."
