CONCORD, N.C.: With a little help from his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer on the last lap of Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Road Course, Chase Briscoe finished ninth and barely advanced to the penultimate Round of 8 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
When Playoff contenders Daniel Suarez and Kyle Larson ran into issues in Stage 3, Briscoe appeared to be smooth sailing towards the next round of the Playoffs, but when the caution flew on Lap 104 for debris in Turn 6, the rhythm of the race changed dramatically and Briscoe was along for the ride.
Sitting above the cutline heading into the Lap 107 restart, Briscoe was trying to survive the restart chaos but contact from Kyle Busch sent the No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang around entering the backstretch chicane – temporarily booting Briscoe from the Playoff scene.
The caution waved that next lap for more debris allowing Briscoe to refocus and set himself up for a round of NASCAR overtime and two laps to muscle back into the Playoff grid.
The race went into red flag conditions for track repairs which allowed Briscoe and his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing team led by crew chief Johnny Klausmeier to pit when the opportunity presented for tires and a splash of fuel.
Restarting outside the top-20, Briscoe took advantage of more chaos including a six-car spin, a fast car on newer tires and some blocking help from Custer to maneuver back inside the top-10 to ninth when the checkered flag waved two laps later.
Briscoe sealed his advancement in the Playoffs with several critical passes on the last lap around Corey LaJoie, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon and teammate Custer.
When the dust settled on the cooldown lap, Briscoe edged Larson by just two points.
The monstrous last lap proved to the money lap that will give the spring Phoenix winner an opportunity to fight three more times for a spot in the Championship 4 next month on November 6th.
“Yeah, what a wild day,” said Briscoe after the race. “I told my guys before we took the initial green in the race, there’s a difference between thinking we could move on and knowing we could move on.
“This team never gives up. I told them I was never going to give up.”
Briscoe said he felt good nearing the end of the race about his next Playoff run but when chaos erupted it took everything he had to make sure he moved on.
“It took every bit of it there at the end,” explained Briscoe. “To be easily in, then that debris caution comes out. Still, I thought we had a really good shot of making it in. Get wrecked on the backstretch. Crazy at the end of these races, especially the road course race, how much can change so quickly.”
After spinning late in the race, Briscoe didn’t believe he would have an opportunity to rebound, but he said being on fresher tires for the final restart let him take the race into his control.
“I had no idea we were even going to have a shot,” sounded Briscoe. “Truthfully, I knew we were probably out. I saw the 2 (Austin Cindric) wreck, I thought maybe there’s still a chance. We had so much fresher tires than anybody. Johnny pumped them way up to qualifying pressures, let me go attack, have the ball in my hands.”
Looking ahead to the next round of the Playoffs with stops at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Briscoe believes it will be his three-race run to shine.
“Looking forward to the Round of 8,” he said. “A lot of really, really good race tracks for me. If we can get to Phoenix, we know we got a good car there, too.
“Just overall awesome day, proud of my team.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
