TALLADEGA, Ala: Chase Briscoe knew going into the YellaWood 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway that track position and luck play a big role in a good outcome.
With the Round of 8 Playoffs on the horizon, he hoped for at least a top-15 finish at the 2.66-mile superspeedway to assist his championship pursuit, but a massive 28-car pileup in the closing laps derailed his hopes.
After a poor qualifying effort on Saturday, Briscoe started the race from the 36th position, meaning the Stewart-Haas Racing driver had to overcome most of the field to find himself in contention for his second NASCAR Cup Series win of the season.
Moving through the field quickly, Briscoe would move up to the 17th position when the day’s first caution came out for a spin by the No. 99 of Daniel Suarez.
Communicating to his team, the Ford Mustang Dark Horse driver would tell them that “the balance is good, the car is fine.” The team elected to make a fuel-only pit stop and returned the driver to battle in the 16th position.
Continuing to move through the field, the driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang would be informed that he would need to relinquish the bottom of the race track and migrate towards the middle and top lanes if he wanted to score crucial stage points.
With fuel on his side to end Stage 1 on Lap 44, crew chief Richard Boswell gave the all-clear and informed his driver to “go as hard as you need to. We are good to the end of the stage.”
The clearance further propelled the Indiana native forward, with Briscoe landing eighth in Stage 1 and collecting three crucial Playoff points.
Coming to pit road for a new set of Goodyear tires, fuel, and a tear-off, the Mitchell, Indiana native was told that he needed to save fuel and returned to start the beginning of Stage 2 in sixth position.
With the start of Stage 2, it seemed like things were going to continue on an upward trend, but after coming to pit road for a green flag pit stop on Lap 82, Briscoe returned to the track in 21st.
Mired by traffic and without the help of his Ford Performance and Stewart-Haas Racing teammates, Briscoe settled for 23rd in Stage 2.
Even with that result, Stage 3 looked extremely hopeful. By Lap 134, the Ford Performance driver had drafted his way to second and continued to hover inside the top-10 until the “Big One” erupted on Lap 185.
The incident involved a track record of 28 Cup cars and brought out the red flag as NASCAR cleared and cleaned the famous superspeedway.
The communication to the team from Briscoe was, “My tires are all flat. ” The team told him to stay in the car and let them push him to pit road so they could fix it, but track safety workers kept telling him to get out of the car.
Briscoe remained defiant, staying secured in his automobile. He eventually got a tow back to pit road, where his SHR team made the necessary repairs to keep him on the track.
While out of contention, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series winner did finish the race in the 30th position.
“There was a lot of confusion on the backstretch as to what to do and how to do it,” stated a frustrated Briscoe. “Everyone back there had the air jacks, and we still can’t move.
“Like ours, I pumped the air jack and it didn’t do anything and randomly five minutes later it went up.”
Unfortunately, the Talladega finish would drop Briscoe to 12th in the Cup Series Playoff standings, 32 markers below the cut line, with one race remaining in the second round of the 10-race Playoff run.
Briscoe likely faces elimination on Oct. 13, 2024, unless he wins the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL race. The track has undergone a facelift and will have an updated layout for the elimination event.
Disappointed, Briscoe lamented, “It’s not the day we wanted, just with the way everything went. I don’t know what the points are, but I’m sure it’s not good.”
Knowing what he needs to do next week, he added, “This is one of those races where if you didn’t run top five or whatever, you’re probably gonna be in a must-win either way so that probably makes it a little more clear now and puts it where it’s not on that bubble of, ‘well, should we go for points or should we just try to win the race.’
The Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Road Course takes the green flag shortly after 2:00 p.m. ET.
Follow Grace Krenrich on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Threads @grace3140 or email at [email protected].
