AVONDALE, Ariz. – The competition knew Chase Briscoe was a threat heading into Sunday’s Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway. The No. 19 team just couldn’t avoid having tires blow out.
After multiple miscues in Friday’s practice, including a flat tire in the opening 15 minutes, Briscoe experienced the same luck in Sunday’s event, with another flat tire on Lap 104 while running in fifth position. At the exact same time, Shane van Gisbergen spun off Turn 4 to bring out the caution. The No. 19 Toyota remained on the lead lap.
Briscoe charged through the field rapidly and was inside the top 10 by Lap 160. After cracking the top five, the No. 19 car cut another right-side tire at Lap 215, two laps after fellow Championship 4 competitor Kyle Larson had a tire issue. Both cars lost a lap, but Briscoe was in the free pass position when Carson Hocevar clobbered the wall three laps later.
“It was a [expletive]ing [expletive]show, really,” crew chief James Small said of the tire issues. “Today, it was right rears and we kept running over things. It wasn’t air pressure – it wasn’t that. Every time we had one that came off, it had a cut in the base. There was so much fucking debris out there.
“Obviously, we just got unlucky. I know where our teammates were, I know where we were. Not a single one of them had a problem. Just part of the deal, I guess.”
Briscoe made another rally and drove back inside the top 10 by Lap 257. When JJ Yeley brought out the caution with 34 laps remaining in regulation, Small was one of two Championship 4 crew chiefs (No. 5 team’s Cliff Daniels) who made a Hail Mary call to take the lead with a two-tire stop. On the restart, Briscoe’s teammate Denny Hamlin, who led a race-high 208 laps, got to the inside of the two leaders and Briscoe faded.
The laps clicked away until fellow Championship 4 competitor William Byron had a flat tire with three laps remaining. The No. 19 team only had scuffed tires from qualifying remaining for an overtime restart and chose to go with four tires.
When the checkered flag dropped, Briscoe plummeted to 18th position, placing third in the championship battle.
“Should have made a different call at the end; I know better,” Small said. “[Expletive] take right side tires like we should have done. He thought he could make it work on four, which was never going to happen. Anyway, I learned my lesson, so all good.”
Multiple cut tires has Briscoe thinking about what could have been while leaving his first Championship 4 experience.
“I definitely felt like I was more than capable,” Briscoe stated. “Just to go from the back to the front that many times. I would have loved to have just been able to race straight up.
“Definitely, it’s a race of what could have been. I feel like hopefully people felt like we were here and in contention. We weren’t average running position-wise up there a whole lot. If we could have started up front, not even started up front, but not had issue after issue, we would have been in the mix.”
Though disappointed, Briscoe believed he proved he belonged in the Championship 4. He ended his debut season with Joe Gibbs Racing scoring career highs in every important statistical measure. Throughout his career, he’s grinding out finishes, as he pointed to an Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2020 when he was seven laps down and rebounded for a third-place result.
“My whole career has been ‘never give up,’ you never know what can happen,” Briscoe said. “I feel like I race with that. I’ve had it multiple times throughout my career where you cannot give up in these races.
“Our car was obviously good enough. I could just go from the back right back to the front. I knew my car was good. Just trying to stay in it. You never know. Late cautions can happen, pit strategy, whatever.”