WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.: After a disastrous start to his NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs last weekend at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, Chase Briscoe and his Stewart-Haas Racing team rebounded Sunday at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International leading all Playoff drivers with a sixth-place finish in the Go Bowling at The Glen.
After being collected in an early race accident in the opening Round of 16 event alongside Kyle Larson, Briscoe found himself 21 points below the cutline and in shaky territory entering the penultimate road course race of the season and the next-to-last race in the Round of 16.
A strong qualifying result on Saturday afternoon and a nearly flawless race kept the No. 14 HighPoint Ford Mustang out of trouble.
With good pit strategy, including earning much-needed stage points, the Mitchell, Ind. native was able to stay ahead of the late race chaos to be only one of two Cup Playoff drivers to finish inside the top-10.
Briscoe was joined by his Ford Performance teammate Austin Cindric, who finished 10th.
With his awesome work around 92 laps in the Finger Lakes of New York, Briscoe was able to move above the cutoff line and now sits as the 11th-seeded driver and six points ahead of Denny Hamlin, the first driver below the cutline in 13th.
After the race, Briscoe was relieved and talked about how important it was to earn a solid finish.
“Huge,” said Briscoe on the importance of his finish at Watkins Glen. “I mean, that’s what we needed to do, right? Score stage points and run well in the race, and we were able to do that. So, a really good, solid day for HighPoint.com Ford.”
Earning his eighth top-10 finish of the year on Sunday, Briscoe openly admitted that he probably could have finished a few spots higher, but with so many Playoff drivers facing their own adversity throughout the race, Briscoe did not want to put himself in a position where he could potentially lose everything he worked so hard to gain throughout the day.
“I felt like I could have got a couple more points, but just didn’t want to risk it there at the end,” explained Briscoe. “I knew I was in a pretty good position compared to a lot of the field, so I did what we needed to do.”
With a six-point cushion heading into the elimination race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Sept. 21, Briscoe is focused on sticking to his plan and hoping it will be enough to advance to the Round of 12 which begins at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 29.
“Just need to go do that same thing next week,” Briscoe said with determination. “You know, hit singles and doubles and don’t do anything crazy, as long as we just execute all day long. It should be should be enough.
“So just go on to Bristol and see what we can do.”
At Bristol in March, Briscoe finished 13th after starting sixth in a race where tire wear dominated the headlines.
Did exactly what we needed to do today 💪🏻 one more weekend like that hopefully and we will be onto the next round.
— Chase Briscoe (@ChaseBriscoe_14) September 15, 2024
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
