Event: Hooters 250 (Round 9 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 167 laps, broken into three stages (40 laps/40 laps/87 laps)
Start/Finish: 8th/7th (Running, completed 167 of 167 laps)
Point Standing: 2nd (370 points, 18 out of first)
Race Winner: Harrison Burton of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Ryan Sieg of RSS Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Overview:
Chase Briscoe overcame a mountain of adversity Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway to score an impressive seventh-place finish in the Hooters 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race. The 25-year-old from Mitchell, Indiana, drove from nearly last in the 37-car field to pick up his seventh top-10 of the season. Briscoe’s No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang was forced to the pits before the green flag even waved on the 167-lap race around the 1.5-mile oval. A piece of equipment fell off his Ford Mustang on the pace laps, which put Briscoe seven laps down to start the race. Briscoe drove through the field twice in the first 70 laps and used pit strategy to his advantage to gain back four laps by the end of Stage 2. When the leaders began their green-flag pit stops on lap 122, Briscoe stayed on the racetrack, running as high as third before making his green-flag stop. He was in 11th place, one lap down, when the final caution of the day occurred on lap 160. Briscoe stayed on the track to return to the lead lap, whereupon he restarted in 11th and drove up to seventh in a three-lap shootout to the finish.
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“It was definitely a frustrating day, but we can’t hang our heads. We had another really good, fast Ford Mustang and we just made a silly mistake this week and forgot something. Last week, I made a silly mistake on pit road, so it all evens out. The positive is that we had a really fast Ford Performance Racing School Mustang. In fact, I felt like we were the fastest car by quite a bit. The good thing is we get another chance at it tomorrow and, hopefully, we can put it all together and not make any mistakes and get another win.
“Coming into this weekend, I felt like this was a golden opportunity to win two races. I feel like Homestead is probably my best racetrack on the circuit. We gave one away today, but nothing is guaranteed tomorrow. We still have to put it all together and not make any mistakes. That’s something we haven’t done since Darlington, and we’ve given wins away, truthfully. The last two races now we were, by far, the best car, and made one mistake and it cost us. These races aren’t easy to win. You have to do everything right, and we’ve been living proof of that. It doesn’t matter how much speed you have, if you make mistakes in this series, you’re not going to win these races. We’ve just got to clean everything up.”
Notes:
● Briscoe earned his second top-10 in three career Xfinity Series starts at Homestead. His best result is third in last year’s Ford EcoBoost 300.
● Briscoe earned his seventh top-10 of the season. He has four wins, 18 top-five and 37 top-10s in 59 career Xfinity Series starts.
● Harrison Burton won the Hooters 250 to score his second career Xfinity Series victory. The rookie driver’s margin of victory over second-place Austin Cindric was .179 of a second.
● There were five caution periods for a total of 25 laps.
● Only 14 of the 37 drivers in the Hooters 250 finished on the lead lap.
● Noah Gragson leaves Homestead as the championship leader with an 18-point advantage over second-place Briscoe.
Next Up:
The second event of the Xfinity Series doubleheader at Homestead is the Contender Boats 250 on Sunday, June 14. The race starts at 12 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
