Chase Briscoe said it best after climbing from his car at Darlington Raceway on Thursday.
“This is the biggest day of my life after the toughest day of my life,” said Briscoe, who learned that wife Marissa had lost the baby the couple was expecting two days before claiming the most dramatic victory of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career.
And after that intensely contested win, Briscoe now holds the series lead entering Monday’s Alsco 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Over the last two laps of the rain-delayed Toyota 200, Briscoe swapped the lead — and traded sheet metal — with the foremost driver in the history of the series, Kyle Busch. After surrendering the top spot on the penultimate lap, Briscoe crossed over to the inside and beat Busch back to the finish line to post his second win of the season.
The Darlington victory clearly was the most emotional of Briscoe’s life.
“I was bawling my eyes out the last quarter-lap, once I knew I beat him off of (turn) 4 and all the way around the cool down lap,” Briscoe said. “But, honestly, the last six or seven laps looking out my mirror and seeing Kyle, it was just like a Hollywood story. I just had a feeling it was going to come down to me and him.
“I didn’t realize it was going to be as close as it was, but I had a feeling that it was just meant to be, and I wasn’t 100 percent sure I was going to beat him, especially when it got down to two (laps) to go, but I had a peace about it, and whatever happened, I was going to be okay with it.”
Briscoe got his the first of his four career Xfinity wins in 2018 at Charlotte – in the first event in the series on the infield road course – but his two starts on the 1.5-mile oval have resulted in finishes 11th and 19th. With two-time champion Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Cole Custer all having graduated to the NASCAR Cup Series, however, Briscoe has to like his prospects for Monday’s race at Charlotte.
Not only that, he’s the only multiple winner in the Xfinity Series this season, having triumphed at 1.5-mile Las Vegas before the hiatus brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Then again, to win Monday’s race, he’ll have to accomplish the formidable task of beating Kyle Busch in consecutive starts.
WDUN will carry live PRN Radio coverage of Monday night's NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco 300 from the Charlotte Motor Speedway beginning at 7 p.m. on 102.9 FM, AM 550 and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
The Race: Alsco 300
The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC
The Date: Monday, May 25
The Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 7 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 300 miles (200 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45),Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)
Most Recent Winner: Tyler Reddick
What To Watch For: Charlotte Motor Speedway has hosted 74 NASCAR Xfinity Series races dating back to the series inception in 1982. The first Xfinity Series race at Charlotte was held on May 29, 1982 and won by Harry Gant in a Pontiac. The 74 Xfinity races at Charlotte Motor Speedway have produced 48 different poles winners, led by Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth with four each. … The youngest Xfinity Series pole winner at Charlotte is Chase Elliott (10/10/2014 – 18 years, 10 months, 12 days) and the oldest is Harry Gant (10/08/1988 – 48 years, 8 months, 28 days). … A total of 36 different NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers have won at Charlotte Motor Speedway, led by Kyle Busch with eight victories (2004, 2005, 2008 sweep, 2009, 2010, 2013 sweep). … The youngest Xfinity winner at Charlotte is Kyle Busch (05/29/2004 – 19 years, 0 months, 27 days) and the oldest is Harry Gant (10/05/1991 – 51 years, 8 months, 25 days). … A total of 161 different Xfinity Series driver have led at least one lap at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch leads the series in laps led at Charlotte with 1,381 in 25 starts. The most laps led in a single Xfinity Series race at Charlotte was 194 of the scheduled 200 laps (97%) by NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt on October 4, 1986, he started from the pole and won.
