Chase Briscoe’s 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship bid came to an end Saturday at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, but the 24 year old driver certainly turned some heads in his rookie campaign in the series.
However, his No. 98 team made a call to leave a set of tires in pit lane to use late in the race if a caution came — it never did. As a result, Briscoe salvaged an eighth-place finish on older tires, but it wasn’t enough to advance him into the Championship 4.
“Yeah, a caution would have been nice there at the end,” Briscoe said. “We tried something different, and obviously it didn’t work out for us. Kind of how this whole round of the Playoffs has went. The Kansas deal now, definitely stings.”
For Briscoe, a Playoff appearance and nabbing his second career win could ultimately end up as little consolation as he is still unsigned for 2020. However, even with the uncertainty hanging over his head, Briscoe isn’t worrying about that part of things as it is out of his hands.
“God has a plan and a reason for everything, so, I might not realize it now,” Briscoe explained. “But hopefully in the future I will.”
Heading into the Round of 8, Briscoe had finished inside the top-10 in 12 of the previous 13 races. He was in position to win Kansas, as well at the start of the Round, until a lapped car driven by Garrett Smithley slammed into him while Briscoe was leading the race.
Briscoe, who now puts his focus on stealing the show next weekend in Homestead-Miami Speedway, just hopes that the last three races aren’t what everyone remembers about his incredible 2019 season.
“Just, I don’t want this one race or this whole round to define who we were. We proved — especially in the last half of the season — that we were capable of being that fourth guy, but just didn’t get it done.”
