Chase Briscoe 11th at Charlotte
Late-Race Accident Slows Rookie Driver’s Bid for Top-10
Date: May 26, 2018
Event: Alsco 300 (Round 11 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Charlotte (N.C) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/ 45 laps/110 laps)
Start/Finish: 9th/11th (Running, completed 204 of 204 laps)
Race Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford) in overtime.
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-45):
- Briscoe started ninth and finished 18th
- Climbed to seventh in the opening laps before reporting his car was tight off the corners.
- Dropped to 18th place before he could come to pit lane for adjustments after the stage completion.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 46-90):
- Briscoe started 11th and finished 10th
- Pitted for four tires and fuel plus adjustments before the stage’s start.
- Started turning top-six lap times and drove from 18th to as high as fifth.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 91-200):
- Briscoe started 11th and finished 11th
- Restarted 10th with 50 to go and immediately climbed to fifth before giving up several positions to cars with newer tires.
- On the restart with 39 laps to go, Kyle Busch spun on the front stretch and collected Briscoe forcing him to pit lane for repairs.
- Restarted 23rd, the last car on the lead lap, with 34 laps remaining.
- Rain forced an hour-long delay with 28 laps remaining.
- Briscoe survived the wild racing in the closing laps and overtime without incident.
Notes:
- Saturday’s race marked Briscoe’s sixth career NASCAR Xfinity Series start and third at Stewart-Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste (SHR).
- The 11th-place finish equals his career-best Xfinity Series finish.
- Thirteen cautions slowed the race for 59 laps with only 22 of the 40 drivers finishing on the lead lap.
- Brad Keselowski led 77 laps to win the Alsco 300 earning his 38th career Xfinity Series victory. It is his second victory of the season and fourth at Charlotte. His margin of victory over second-place Cole Custer .421 seconds.
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 98 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing With Biagi-DenBeste:
“I wish we could get a clean race. Today I think we had a lot better car than we showed. We were looking really good on tires and in a good position then got caught up in Kyle’s (Busch) problem. I think we could have finished in the top five. Our Ford was fast today and the guys at SHR worked really hard the whole weekend. I can’t wait to get in this Mustang again.”
