Chase Briscoe began his 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday night just as he has competed so much of the regular season – out front.
Briscoe led a dominating and career-high 165 of the 200-laps, and swept both stage victories in the Alsco 300 Playoff opener en route to his series best eighth victory of the season. He joins NASCAR legends Sam Ard and Jack Ingram as the only drivers to amass eight wins in the opening 27 races of an Xfinity Series season.
Briscoe’s No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford beat Las Vegas native Noah Gragson’s No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevy by a healthy 1.370-seconds – with Briscoe forced to hold off the field on a late, furious race restart with 10 laps remaining making a strong statement about his championship intentions.
“Just didn’t have enough for the 98 (Briscoe), a lot of race cars out here and one space shuttle,” Gragson said of Briscoe.
The victory earns Briscoe an automatic bid into the second round of the Playoffs with two races – at Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte infield road course – still remaining in this opening Playoff round. It’s the first time in his two seasons at the Xfinity Series level that Briscoe has swept both stage victories en route to a race win.
Daniel Hemric finished third, one of only two non-Playoff drivers among the top 10 at Las Vegas. Playoff competitors Justin Allgaier and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top five. Regular season champion Austin Cindric was sixth, followed by Michael Annett, Anthony Alfredo (the other non-Playoff driver in the top 10), Harrison Burton and Justin Haley.
Playoff drivers Brandon Jones and Riley Herbst finished 11th and 12th. Brandon Brown and Ross Chastain finished 15th and 16th – Chastain’s 15 laps led second to Briscoe’s effort.
While restarts were dramatic as drivers made daring moves to challenge Briscoe and negotiate their places, Briscoe was inevitably able to hold his place out front. He led by more than four seconds with 25 laps remaining and had increased that advantage to more than six seconds with 20 laps remaining when he radioed to his crew that he felt a small vibration. He was reminded of his healthy lead and reassured it was his race to manage – that all was okay. And indeed it was for Briscoe.
“First off, incredible car by everybody at Stewart-Haas and that made my job way too easy, honestly,” Briscoe said, acknowledging, “We’ve had a lot of wins this year, but this was by far our most dominant car. I’m so glad I can sleep a little bit easer this week going into Talladega and the (Charlotte) Roval and just enjoy.”
“I knew this team is fully capable of achieving that and even more. I just can’t say thank you enough to (team owners) Gene Haas and Tony Stewart and everybody that lets me drive these race cars.
“It’s been an unbelievable season and we’ve still got six more wins to try and gain and a championship so that’s what we’ll try to do.
“I’m so happy to be able to start the playoffs like that.”
The outcome gives Briscoe the automatic ticket to Round 2 and leaves Cindric leading the standings, 17 points ahead of Allgaier. Gragson is next, 25 points behind Cindric. Despite the impressive Vegas showing, Sieg is ninth place in the standings – eight points behind Chastain in the final transfer position for Round 2.
Annett is tied with Sieg. Herbst is one point behind them and Brown is only 10 points off Chastain’s pace in a highly-competitive situation heading into next Saturday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, NV
Alsco 300 – September 26, 2020
1. (1) Chase Briscoe (P), Ford, 200.
2. (6) Noah Gragson (P), Chevrolet, 200.
3. (14) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 200.
4. (3) Justin Allgaier (P), Chevrolet, 200.
5. (12) Ryan Sieg (P), Chevrolet, 200.
6. (2) Austin Cindric (P), Ford, 200.
7. (13) Michael Annett (P), Chevrolet, 200.
8. (8) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 200.
9. (5) Harrison Burton # (P), Toyota, 200.
10. (10) Justin Haley (P), Chevrolet, 200.
11. (7) Brandon Jones (P), Toyota, 200.
12. (9) Riley Herbst # (P), Toyota, 200.
13. (15) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 200.
14. (20) Brett Moffitt(i), Chevrolet, 200.
15. (11) Brandon Brown (P), Chevrolet, 200.
16. (4) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 200.
17. (29) Austin Hill(i), Toyota, 199.
18. (18) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 199.
19. (32) Myatt Snider #, Chevrolet, 199.
20. (26) Stefan Parsons, Toyota, 199.
21. (25) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 198.
22. (22) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 198.
23. (24) Jesse Little #, Chevrolet, 198.
24. (17) Gray Gaulding(i), Chevrolet, 197.
25. (31) Bayley Currey(i), Chevrolet, 197.
26. (28) B.J. McLeod, Chevrolet, 197.
27. (27) Joe Graf, Jr. #, Chevrolet, 196.
28. (21) Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 196.
29. (30) Dexter Bean, Chevrolet, 195.
30. (23) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 194.
31. (34) Kody Vanderwal #, Chevrolet, 191.
32. (16) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, Electrical, 179.
33. (19) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 166.
34. (35) Vinnie Miller, Chevrolet, Too Slow, 51.
35. (36) Chad Finchum, Toyota, Suspension, 36.
36. (33) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, Accident, 7.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 127.796 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 20 Mins, 51 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.370 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 28 laps.
Lead Changes: 8 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Briscoe (P) 1-13;A. Cindric (P) 14-23;R. Chastain (P) 24-38;C. Briscoe (P) 39-50;R. Sieg (P) 51;C. Briscoe (P) 52-147;R. Sieg (P) 148-149;M. Annett (P) 150-157;C. Briscoe (P) 158-200.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Chase Briscoe (P) 4 times for 164 laps; Ross Chastain (P) 1 time for 15 laps; Austin Cindric (P) 1 time for 10 laps; Michael Annett (P) 1 time for 8 laps; Ryan Sieg (P) 2 times for 3 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 98,10,39,9,21,11,22,8,19,18
Stage #2 Top Ten: 98,9,22,39,21,19,11,8,7,18
Top 12 in Points: 1. Chase Briscoe* – 2110 (8 Wins); 2. Austin Cindric – 2093 (5 Wins); 3. Noah Gragson – 2076 (2 Wins); 4. Justin Allgaier – 2068 (3 Wins); 5. Justin Haley – 2054 (2 Wins); 6. Brandon Jones – 2053 (3 Wins); 7. Ryan Sieg – 2049; 8. Harrison Burton – 2042 (2 Wins); 9. Ross Chastain – 2040; 10. Michael Annett – 2032; 11. Riley Herbst – 2028; 12. Brandon Brown – 2022.
*Locked into the Round of 8
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