Chase Briscoe claims first Cup win in Phoenix

What do Chase Briscoe and Kyle Jergensen have in common? They both recorded first victories in a major event in the desert.

A day after Jergensen celebrated his maiden Mint 400 in Nevada, Briscoe was doing the same for NASCAR Cup Series win #1 at Phoenix Raceway. An overtime restart placed him in a three-way battle with Tyler Reddick and Ross Chastain, both of whom were also seeking their first wins, with Briscoe ultimately holding them off.

Briscoe started sixth while fellow Ford driver Ryan Blaney won the pole. It was a relatively clean stage with the only yellow flags coming on laps 27 (a mandated competition caution) and 41 (debris). William Byron took the lead for the latter’s ensuing restart and the eventual stage win ahead of Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Reddick, Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, and Austin Dillon.

Bell’s race took a turn when he spun on lap 120 for Stage #2’s only caution. Blaney dominated the segment as he led all but ten laps including the final one to win. Elliott, who led said ten circuits, was second followed by Harvick, Byron, Larson, Reddick, Chastain, Briscoe, Dillon, and Logano.

Tyre degradation resulted in the first of three incidents in the final stage when Martin Truex Jr.‘s right-front tyre went down and caused him to slam into the turn two wall. He explained shortly after that the car had been “getting really loose all day on the longer runs. I was just out there trying to take care of it, and we gained a few spots on the restart and I was just trying to take care of the rear tires. Coming off of turn two there, I’m kind of neutral free, and then all of a sudden, it shot straight into the fence. I cut a right front down running up there in the glue or something.”

Briscoe took the lead from Blaney on the following restart, and appeared poised to pull away if not for a pair of Chevrolet drivers having incidents beginning with Erik Jones‘ wreck on lap 287; interestingly, Jones was also the victim of a late accident a week prior in Las Vegas. Elliott, who chased down Briscoe before the Jones caution, fell back and spun with nine laps remaining to set up a three-lap dash to the finish.

Briscoe and Reddick occupied the front row for the restart. Despite Reddick and Chastain’s efforts, Briscoe kept his advantage for all three laps to win for the first time in NASCAR’s top series. He is the thirty-fifth driver to win in all three national series, the 200th different Cup race winner, and the first ARCA Menards Series champion to win a Cup points race since Chris Buescher at Pocono 2016.

“I knew that as long as I drove in there deeper than everybody else, I probably was going to be okay,” Briscoe said in his post-race press conference. “Those two other guys, they were giving everything they had too. Thankfully, Ross left me a lane. He didn’t have to do that. I thought I was going to plug the fence and be done. But I was committed at that point. I was kind of blown away that it stuck as well as it did and then that he even left me a lane because he was all but clear.”

As with any first-time winner, Briscoe’s triumph was well received by the racing world. Anand Mahindra, the CEO of prominent Indian agricultural machinery manufacturer Mahindra Group and Briscoe’s sponsor, posted a series of tweets praising him and the “triumphant sea of red” in reference to his livery. Briscoe shared a photo of him with the trophy on Reddit, where he is a prominent user, that quickly became one of /r/NASCAR’s most upvoted submissions of all time.

“I never thought I would win a single Truck race, let along a Cup race,” added Briscoe. “To be the 200th winner at that… Some incredible guys on that list. To be one of 200, it’s humbling, it’s unbelievable.

“Seven years ago, I was literally two days away from giving up racing, at least on the pavement side. Briggs and Beth Cunningham called me and asked me if I wanted to test their ARCA car. That turned into a race, then a full season, Ford taking a chance on me.

“There were many times along the way my career could have been over, even in the last four or five. To now be a winner in the Cup Series is unbelievable. To be one of forty guys week in, week out is special. To say you were the best guy that day. These guys are incredible race car drivers. To be on the race track with them is humbling, and to beat them is definitely humbling.”

Chastain and Reddick settled for second and third, respectively, with Blaney fourth. The top four all previously raced for Brad Keselowski‘s now defunct team in the Camping World Truck Series during the early stages of their national series careers. Keselowski, who finished twenty-third, tweeted it was “[n]ot the day we wanted for @RFK6Team (RFK Racing) but this is something to be proud of…”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	6	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	312	Running
2	17	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	312	Running
3	12	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	312	Running
4	1	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	312	Running
5	15	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	312	Running
6	16	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	312	Running
7	11	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	312	Running
8	10	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	312	Running
9	23	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	312	Running
10	26	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	312	Running
11	19	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	312	Running
12	5	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	312	Running
13	2	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	312	Running
14	9	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	312	Running
15	21	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	312	Running
16	25	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	312	Running
17	28	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	312	Running
18	3	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	312	Running
19	33	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	312	Running
20	29	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	312	Running
21	13	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	311	Accident
22	27	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	311	Running
23	18	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	311	Running
24	8	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	311	Running
25	14	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	311	Running
26	4	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	310	Running
27	22	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	310	Running
28	36	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	310	Running
29	24	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	309	Running
30	31	77	Landon Cassill*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	308	Running
31	32	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	307	Running
32	35	15	Garrett Smithley	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	305	Running
33	34	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	304	Running
34	7	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	239	Engine
35	20	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	219	Accident
36	30	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	45	Accident

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Cup points