TALLADEGA, Ala. – Chase Briscoe, one of the pre-season favorites for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) championship was eliminated from contention in Saturday afternoon’s fred’s 250 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
After qualifying his No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford fifth Saturday morning, Briscoe kept his Brad Keselowski Racing truck inside the top-five during the opening laps of the cutoff race, but before Lap 10, Briscoe’s truck began showing smoke with NASCAR eventually black-flagging him.
Briscoe pitted the following lap on Lap 9 and immediately took his truck to the garage for evaluation.
The team led by crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. determined that a valve cover malfunction caused the smoke and after repairs were made, Briscoe returned to the race track on Lap 19, 10 laps down.
Over the next 76 laps, Briscoe earned one of those lost laps back while also climbing the leaderboard through attrition from 30th to 22nd and while chasing John Hunter Nemechek for the final Playoff position.
Nemechek, however, despite being heavily damaged was able to negotiate a last-lap wreck and climb from 12th to sixth, solidifying his entry into the Round of 6, while knocking Briscoe from the competition.
“This is just the situation we were dealt in the playoffs and you have to go out there and perform,” said Briscoe who finished 22nd.
“Honestly, if we run better at Loudon this doesn’t happen. The good Lord has a bigger plan and I am not sure what that is. As much as this sucks right now I am still grateful and fortunate to be running race cars for a living. I have to think big picture but it sucks.
“I really wanted to get Brad his first championship. We still have some races we can win and that is what we want to do.”
Despite being knocked out of the championship, Briscoe says there is still work to be done at BKR this season, even though the Statesville, N.C.-organization will fold following the season
finale at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway on Nov. 17.
“Even though we’re shutting down at the end of the year, we’re still trying to fight and still go win races, so we’re bringing out best pieces these next couple weeks and see if we can’t get some wins,” Briscoe added.”
Saturday’s finish at Talladega was the second worst for the Mitchell, Ind. this season and only the second time he’s been outside the top-12 in 19 races this season. In his freshman season, the reigning ARCA Racing Series champion has an average finish of 8.8 with four races remaining.
Briscoe’s teammate Austin Cindric who earned his way into the Playoffs with a controversial move at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park moved into the Round of 6 with a fifth-place finish at the 2.66-mile superspeedway on Saturday.
Daytona winner Kaz Grala who brought out the first caution of the race on Lap 19 was also erased from the championship fight as the eighth-place seed.
More importantly, Briscoe’s future in NASCAR could become clearer as the 22-year-old has meetings with Ford Performance this weekend to discuss his 2018 plans.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
