By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Growing up an hour away from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Monday was a special day for Chase Briscoe.
For the first time, the Indiana native got to race at the “big track” making his first XFINITY Series start in the Lilly Diabetes 250 for Roush Fenway Racing.
And it went well, too, as the 23-year-old earned a ninth-place finish, tying his career-best through 12 XFINITY starts in 2018.
“It seems like the No. 60 car’s been cursed this year,” Briscoe said. “But to finally get a top 10, especially here at Indianapolis… just getting to race and turn laps at Indianapolis is special and humbling. To be able to get a top 10 with the year that we’ve had this year is certainly good.”
His third top 10 of the year, it was Briscoe’s first since Iowa in July. And after a short day at Indy’s sister track of Pocono in June, Monday’s result was particularly rewarding for Briscoe.
“We were running seventh or eighth there with about six laps to go, and Austin Dillon caught me there,” he said. “We kind of got lucky and got spread out there with about three to go, just was able to finish it and get a top 10 and a fairly clean racecar, which is really big for the No. 60 guys right now.”
“It was just an honor and a privilege to get to run here at the big track. I’ve been coming here for a long time, growing up right at an hour away. It was pretty special, to come off of Turn 4 and see the grandstands for the first time. I just wish we could have got a little bit of practice in.”
Indeed, the first laps Briscoe ran at Indy took place under the green flag, as he started the 100-lapper from 22nd spot.
“I think it did balance the field out and gave us a little bit of a better advantage,” he said of rained-out practice. “I’m all for it. I like not practicing, personally. I think it puts it in the driver’s hands a little bit more. We had 100 laps to figure it out.”
With the mid-pack draft in full effect with the aero package from the start, Briscoe had to gain confidence while other cars wrecked throughout the day.
“You were definitely a little bit on edge,” he said. “The biggest thing was just that the field would check up so much. When we were in a big pack, we would be using the brake a ton getting into Turn 1 and Turn 3, and then by yourself, you were pretty easy wide-open.
“You saw some guys run a little less trimmed out, and they were the ones kind of having issues. We had quite a bit of downforce built into our car and it did affect us going down the straightaway, but our car handled really good for the most part.”
With another solid performance, Briscoe will return next weekend at Las Vegas, hoping to improve from Monday’s ninth place.
“It’s cool to have a good finish here,” he said. “This season, by my standards, has not been good at all and it’s been a struggle. So it’s been nice to get a couple top 10s, especially close to home.
“It’s definitely good to get good runs close to home. But we need start doing them everywhere.”