NASCAR’s Briscoe takes another step toward a Cup ride with Xfinity win at Kansas Speedway
Chase Briscoe enjoyed the benefit of having Clint Bowyer’s NASCAR Cup pit crew in winning Saturday night’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway.
So why not take over the retiring Bowyer’s Cup car next year?
After Briscoe’s dominant performance on Saturday night for Stewart-Haas racing in the Xfinity race, he left little doubt he’s ready to step into the SHR No. 14 Ford Cup car that Bowyer is vacating in order to join the Fox television crew.
“Me doing what I did tonight is only going to help my cause,” Briscoe said. “I don’t think it’s going to hurt it. If I can do this for the remainder of the playoffs, not that it is going to make their decision easier or harder, but I’m only helping my situation every time I win a race.’
Briscoe, 25, said he asked Stewart-Haas about the No. 14 seat after Bowyer made his announcement last week.
“They said, they were working on it, and will try to figure something out, and focus on the playoffs,” said Briscoe whose nine wins are one shy of the Xfinity single-season record 10 set by Sam Ard in 1983. “They said we’d circle back next week, and obviously a win will certainly help.”
Briscoe led 159 of the 167 laps Saturday and avoided frightening, multi-car collisions at the start and end of the race. Most importantly, Briscoe won the opening race in the Xfinity Series playoffs’ Round of 8, which guarantees him a spot in the Championship 4 race in Phoenix on Nov. 7.
The race Saturday was red-flagged by a fiery multi-car wreck on a restart with 28 laps to go. The field went into a four-wide dash into Turn 1 a few rows behind the leaders, and Justin Allgaier set off a wreck that collected other cars, including two-time defending race winner Brandon Jones and sent rookie Anthony Alfredo sliding into the wall, the car flipping onto its roof and careening across the track.
Alfredo’s No. 21 Chevrolet burst into flames before it came to a rest upside down along the track apron. Alfredo, 21, who was making his first start at Kansas Speedway, awaited a wrecker that lifted his car onto its tires before he could climb out and give a thumbs up.
“That was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced,” Alfredo said after emerging from the infield care center. “That definitely shows how fast things happen in racing. I’m just glad to be okay. I’ve got to thank the NASCAR safety crew for being there immediately before I even realized it was over. I’m very thankful for our safety team, our safe race cars we have today and all the safety equipment that goes into keeping all us drivers safe in the race cars.”
Alfredo, who ran in the top 10 for much of the night, felt helpless while sitting upside down in the car and waiting for the safety crew.
“It felt like an eternity,” Alfredo said, “but I know the safety crew is working tremendously fast. I wasn’t able to see how they were working to get me out of there. I tried to relax the best I could and hang in there. It was weird. The worst part about it was all the blood rushing to your head, but I’m all good.”
Briscoe, in winning his first Xfinity race in four starts at Kansas, had to weather one more restart with five laps to go before outracing Daniel Hemric for second and playoff drivers Ryan Sieg and Justin Haley.
Briscoe and Jones ran 1-2 in the first two stages, and Briscoe has swept the first two stages in three of the last four races.
The first stage was marked by a costly collision between championship contenders Austin Cindric, who entered the Round of 8 second to Briscoe, and pole-sitter Noah Gragson, who was fourth.
On a restart on lap 15 following a caution, Gragson got squeezed between Cindric and Ross Chastain as they were going four wide In Turn 2. Gragson’s No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet collided with Cindric ‘s No. 22 Team Penske Ford and suffered too much damage to continue.
Cindric was able to get the left front of his car repaired sufficiently to continue the race, but his 28th-place finish dropped him to fourth in the standings, just two points ahead of the cutline to transfer to the final four. The early finish dropped Gragson to eighth in the standings heading into Texas and Martinsville.
”When you’re in the middle of four-wide, it’s tough,” said Gragson. “We all get crowded. It’s a bummer. It’s frustrating, but you’re racing to get the lead. It’s a racing deal”
Two drivers who competed in the afternoon trucks race had good performances in the nightcap. Brett Moffitt, who won the trucks race, finished seventh at night; and Austin Hill, the trucks winner in July and third on Saturday, finished fifth in the Xfinity race.
This story was originally published October 17, 2020 at 10:47 PM.