LAS VEGAS, Nev: Chase Briscoe may be nine points below the NASCAR Cup Series cutline with two races remaining in the Round of 8, but perseverance and determination by the driver and his Stewart-Haas Racing team led them to a top-five finish in Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway.
When the green flag was thrown in the penultimate intermediate race track of the season, Briscoe struggled badly with the handling of his No. 14 Code 3 Associates Ford Mustang.
The handling was so poor in fact, that the March Phoenix Raceway winner lost a lap to Bubba Wallace early in Stage 1.
A spin by Kyle Busch on Lap 78 offered the opportunity for the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing team to earn their lost lap back and major chassis adjustments from crew chief Johnny Klausmeier allowed Briscoe the opportunity to climb through the field and find himself inside the top-10 in Stage 3.
As the end of the race neared, Briscoe’s presence at the front became more relevant.
A mixture of strategy and a better-handling race car allowed Briscoe to enter the top-five and eventually find himself challenging for the lead with Justin Haley following the sixth caution of the race.
On a Lap 241 restart, Briscoe and Haley battled neck-neck for control of the race lead with Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Mustang eventually edging ahead on Lap 246 – just as Landon Cassill spun off Turn 4.
Under the caution and with a hungry pack of competitors behind him, Briscoe knew that the impending restart would offer the opportunity for a driver to make a three-wide pass and steal control of the race away from him.
Briscoe wasn’t concerned so much about Haley, but rather the No. 1 of Ross Chastain who had been blazing fast throughout the race.
His intuition proved to be correct.
On the Lap 252 restart, Chastain made a bold three-wide pass on Briscoe and Haley entering Turns 3 and 4 which bolted the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet into the race lead and throwing Briscoe into a situation where he not only had defended his placement on the track – but also attempt to run down one of the strongest cars in the race.
Joey Logano who had taken new tires two cautions prior was charging through the field and had caught Briscoe for second. Knowing every point is critical in the Round of 8, Briscoe put on a relentless fight before the newer tires played in favor of Logano.
Over the final 10 laps of the race, while the battle with Logano allowed him and his Ford teammate to close the gap on Chastain – Kyle Busch who also had fresher tires also came roaring through the field and took third from the Mitchell, Ind. native in the closing laps.
Briscoe settled for fourth, 2.062-seconds behind winner Logano.
While Briscoe could not propel his Stewart-Haas Racing team into the Championship 4 at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway next month with his second win of the season, the team was proud of their effort – especially given the circumstances earlier in the race.
“We weren’t the greatest at the start of the race and obviously it didn’t really matter there at the end,” said Briscoe.
“We put ourselves in position and I wish that when I was running second and Justin (Haley) was in the lead, that run would have gone to the end. I feel like I was probably going to get by him in the next five laps. We had such a big gap compared to everyone else. Nobody else had tires. We were all on equal tires.”
Briscoe took responsibility for giving up the race lead on the final restart, but even he was unsure if it would have mattered when the checkered flag was thrown.
“On that last restart, I just didn’t get the job done,” he explained.
“The 31 (Haley) stalled me out and let Ross (Chastain) put us three wide which put me in a really bad spot into three. When you give up the lead you are kind of just stuck. Who knows? Those guys were coming on tires and I doubt I would have been able to hold them off but I would have felt better about it if I had the opportunity.”
Seeded sixth in the championship standings heading to Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway next weekend, Briscoe admits that there is still work needed to give not only himself but his team a chance to move on to the Championship 4 and chase the Cup Series title in less than month.
“We kept ourselves in the ballgame and still have a lot of work to do but we still have a chance,” Briscoe sounded.
“We are running the best we have all year long and that is about all you can ask for.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
