SLEEPING in his own bed, hanging out with his puppy - it might seem odd, but Macauley Jones views doing those two things as an important part of his Bathurst 1000 preparation.
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But then again, season 2020 has been far from normal for Jones and every other driver in the Supercars series.
The start of Jones' second full-time year on the grid began as expected as he tackled the Adelaide 500 in February as part of the Brad Jones Racing stable.
But then came the COVID-19 pandemic.
Racing was put on hold for more than three months, the season calendar had a number of revisions and even after the series resumed, there were more changes. Quarantining before events, back-to-back rounds, less crew, fewer fans and a lot of time away from home.
Jones finally got to head back to his Albury base at the end of September and he was certainly glad he got that chance.
"We were able to come home after the last round which was really good," he said.
"I think it was 11 weeks on the road for us and even longer for the Victorian teams, so it's nice to be home for sure.
"It was a lot of travel, I never thought I'd be driving a car for that long but I ended up driving to the Gold Coast, from the Gold Coast to Darwin, from Darwin to Townsville - it was a long journey.
"This break, it's definitely needed for everyone."
One of the calendar revisions saw this year's Bathurst 1000 pushed back a week, allowing Jones to spend his 25th birthday at home.
The chance to refresh as well as have his #3 Holden Commodore back in the team's workshop are things he feels will benefit him when he arrives at Mount Panorama next week.
"Just your sleeping in your own bed - we've been sleeping in so many different hotel beds so just getting back into your own bed is a relief," he said.
"I got my little puppy five days before we had to leave for the first race, so I've had family looking after him since. I've spent the week hanging out with him which has been great.
"For me it kind of feels weird, it feels like we should be racing this weekend, but we get another week which is probably a good thing really.
"It's definitely a strange one which is why we are pretty grateful to be back in Albury in the home shop to prepare. There are some teams who aren't in their normal workshops, so that for us I think is a bonus."
Jones admitted there was a time when he feared this year's series would be cancelled. But that it has been able to continue in a format which has seen him contest twin rounds at Townsville, Darwin and The Bend is something he feels has aided his development.
"It was such a strange thing, we had two or three months off mid-season there and no-one had any idea what was happening. People were trying to bring out calendars and tell us when we were racing, but states started shutting their borders - so we are pretty grateful to have been able to have the amount of rounds we've had," he said.
"The way that it's panned out has actually been pretty cool - it's something new having back-to-back races at the same circuit. It was really cool for someone like me especially, it's my second year in it so it's very cool to have that opportunity."
Jones and the rest of his Brad Jones Racing team-mates will arrive in Bathurst next week with the opening practice session at Mount Panorama set for 9.30am Thursday morning.