By Cole Cusumano, Staff Writer
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – After an early exit in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener left Chase Briscoe 27 points below the cutoff as the last-ranked driver in the postseason standings, the expectation entering Watkins Glen International may have been that he and the team needed to hit one out of the park with another walk-off win in order to advance. However, thanks to a mayhem-filled afternoon in the Finger Lakes region, they proved all they had to do was play small ball to stay in the game.
After placing dead last at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, Briscoe completely changed the script at the conclusion of the Go Bowling at The Glen by finishing sixth as the highest-scored championship hopeful in the Round of 16, with Austin Cindric being the only other driver to walk away with a top-10.
Not only did the 29-year-old from Mitchel, Ind., post the best result of the playoff field, he put together one of the cleanest races in what was a true war of attrition. Between varying strategies surrounding fuel and new high-wear tires, on top of navigating the most cautions at The Glen since 2016 (seven), it was an incredibly up-and-down race for most every team.
Briscoe was somehow able to maintain a 10th-place average-running position, which enabled him to be the only playoff driver, along with Alex Bowman, to tally points from both stages. This aided in him earning the second-most points of the race, contrasted to his single-point from the weekend prior.
It may not have been a flashy outing like their heroics in the regular-season finale, but getting base hits and staying even-keeled was enough for the No. 14 team to exit a wild race at Watkins Glen six points above the cutoff.
“What we needed to do was to score stage points and run good in the race, and we were able to do that,” Briscoe said. “It was a really good, solid day for our HighPoint.com Ford. I felt like I could have got a couple more points, but just didn’t want to risk it there at the end. I knew I was in a pretty good position compared to a lot of the field, so we did what we needed to do and now we just need to go do that same thing next week. We need to just hit singles and doubles and don’t do anything crazy. As long as we just execute all day long, it should be enough.”
Reveling in redemption following a rocky start to his second playoff appearance, Briscoe looks to keep momentum rolling into Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, where he matched his career-best finish of 13th at Thunder Valley earlier this year. The Round of 16 concludes with the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, slated for Saturday, Sept. 21, with broadcast coverage live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.