LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Ford Performance driver Chase Briscoe walked away from a scary crash in Saturday afternoon’s DC Solar 300 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway abruptly ending an opportunity to score back-to-back NASCAR Xfinity Series top-10 finishes.
Briscoe was having one of his best runs of the season and it appeared that the slew of disastrous outcomes for the No. 60 Xfinity Series team was taking a turn for the better, but the team’s day unraveled following a restart with 19 laps remaining.
As the cars screamed out of Turn 2 onto the backstretch, the two cars of Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick touched in the high lane forcing the wad of cars hunting for a spot inside the top-five taking abrasive actions to avoid them.
Elliott Sadler, however, was unable to avoid contact with Briscoe sending his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang careening down the backstretch wall before pounding the opening portion of the backstretch wall. The force of the impact lifted his Ford Mustang completely off the ground.
Briscoe quickly dropped his window net, climbed from his mangled machine and briefly sat on the ground before being loaded into an ambulance where he was later evaluated and released from the infield care center.
The Mitchell, Ind. native settled for a 31st place finish.
“We were all just racing so hard,” explained Briscoe. “We were three-wide for pretty much a whole lap around there. There was just no room to go anywhere. I hate it for my 60 guys. We were having a heck of a run and this is by far the most comfortable I have felt in the car. I just hate it.
“I have another one at Dover so we will try to go do it again. I am thankful that Ford is letting me do this. I never thought I would be here in a million years. Crashing isn’t any fun but being a race car driver for a living isn’t bad.”
Before the accident, Briscoe said the racing in the Xfinity Series regular season-finale was good and provided multi-grooves.
“You could run bottom or top out there,” he added. “We were running the fence in one and two and bottom in three and four. This place puts on good racing no matter what the series is, I just wish we were still out there racing.”
It wasn’t a particularly good day for Roush Fenway. Ryan Reed left the race 64 laps into the race after being collected in a spin by Matt Tifft.
In 12 races this season, Briscoe has three top-10 finishes with a season-best ninth at Chicagoland Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway respectively.
Ty Majeski returns to the seat next weekend at Richmond and the Charlotte Roval before Briscoe returns on Oct. 6 at Dover and then finishing out his rookie season at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) International Speedway on Nov. 17.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
