By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer
NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Chase Briscoe’s Playoff hopes slip away at the end of the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 at ISM Raceway.
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver took the lead on the final restart and left his competition in the dust. Briscoe’s No. 98 Ford Performance Ford Mustang gapped the competition briefly. However, Justin Allgaier slowly reeled him back in.
Although Briscoe had entered just 18-points behind Allgaier and the final playoff spot for Homestead-Miami Speedway, he lost points to the JR Motorsports driver in both stages. That forced the Mitchell, IN native into a must-win situation.
On lap 134, Allgaier caught and passed Briscoe. As one of just two drivers with fresh tires on pit road, he settled in and waited for a timely caution. Briscoe slid backwards as the caution never waved. He took the checkered flag in eighth.
“I feel like we definitely deserve to be there, but at the same time, Justin was really good too,” Briscoe admitted. “So, we knew that going into this final round, we knew that Kansas was our best opportunity, Texas with our second best, and Phoenix was more likely going to be a struggle just because the No. 7 was so good here.”
“We didn’t capitalize. We put ourselves in that position too, but just didn’t, didn’t get the job done there at the end, just didn’t go our way. We needed a caution and it didn’t come, and it’s kind of been how this whole round has went for us. Part of it, I feel like we have a really good car that can go win Homestead next week.”
Although eliminated from a chance at the NASCAR Xfinity Series Driver’s Championship, Briscoe is still eligible for the Rookie of the Year honors. His two closest ROTY rivals, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley, and John Hunter Nemechek were also eliminated from the playoffs. The Ford Performance Development Driver has a 40-point advantage over Nemechek.
Briscoe admitted that anything short of a driver’s championship would simply prove that he deserves to be in the Xfinity Series.
“Obviously, it doesn’t do anything for us championship wise, but at least maybe prove a point. I’m just thankful that Ford’s believed in me. These 32 races, obviously I have one race left to prove that I need to be here and deserve to be here for next year. So that’s all we’re trying to go do.”
The eighth-place finish for Briscoe was his 25th top-10 finish this season and 29th of his Xfinity Series career.