In a race that featured a top-three that had never won a Cup Series race entering the afternoon, Chase Briscoe emerged victorious in the Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway Sunday.
The 27-year-old Cup series sophomore held off the field on three late restarts, winning over Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick, two other drivers still seeking their first triumphs in Cup competition.
In addition, Briscoe became the 200th different driver to win a race in the NASCAR Cup Series. He also won the first race for his team, Stewart-Haas Racing, since his teammate Aric Almirola’s win at New Hampshire last July.
“It’s unbelievable,” Briscoe said during his post-race TV interview. “I was crying the whole last lap. This is definitely a team win, but I’ve got to thank everybody that’s got me to this point. Just seven years ago I was sleeping on couches, volunteering at race shops and was literally driving home to give up.”
The win was extra special considering that Briscoe’s boss, a fellow Hoosier in Tony Stewart, was Briscoe’s racing idol as a child.
“So blessed to be here driving for this organization, this team and this car that was my hero’s growing up,” Briscoe added. “To everybody that’s believed in me, it’s unbelievable.’’
Briscoe led 101 of the 312 laps, second only to fourth-place finisher and polesitter Ryan Blaney. While he earned the lead with a fast car and great restarts, rapid pit stops from his crew on pit road helped to keep him up at the front all afternoon.
Ross Chastain recorded his second consecutive top-three finish for Trackhouse Racing with his runner-up effort in the desert.
“That was so much fun to get to race like that at this level,” said Chastain of the late-race action between himself, Briscoe and Tyler Reddick. “That’s so cool to race with Tyler and Chase. That’s everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Reddick recovered from an early miscue on pit road to bring his #8 Chevrolet to a third-place result.
“I thought we got a good launch considering all things going right there into one,” Reddick said regarding the final restart. “I couldn’t have drove it any deeper than I did. I still thought I was going to get him in the fence. Chase was able to drive it off in there, clear, high, take the lead.
“It was a fun day. Nice way to recover from a mistake that late in the race, be battling for the win. Great day. We’ll see what else we can learn from this and see what lies ahead.”
Polesitter Ryan Blaney finished fourth, followed by 23XI Racing’s Kurt Busch.
Sixth-place finisher and Briscoe’s teammate Kevin Harvick tied an all-time record, scoring his 18th consecutive top-ten finish at Phoenix Raceway. That matches an all-time record for most top-tens at one track, as NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt each had 18 top-tens in a row at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson ran up in the top ten all afternoon until a valve spring broke in his #5 Chevrolet, taking him out of the race and relegating him to a 34th-place finish with 74 laps remaining.
Because of his early exit, Larson lost the points lead to Team Penske’s Joey Logano, whose top-ten finish gives him a four point cushion over two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch as the West Coast Swing concludes. Larson is now in fourth, ten points behind Logano and five points behind his teammate Chase Elliott in third.
The NASCAR Cup Series will head back to the southeastern U.S. next weekend, racing on the newly-reconfigured and repaved Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 on March 20.