Second Again For Briscoe As Summer Momentum Continues

Chase Briscoe (19) finished second at Iowa Speedway to continue his summer surge. (Matthew Thacker/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

NEWTON, Iowa – It’s not an exaggeration that Chase Briscoe has been one of the hottest drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series throughout the summer.

And although a few feathers from his Toyota teammates were ruffled Sunday at Iowa Speedway, Briscoe kept his run of momentum going.

Briscoe came home second on Sunday for his third runner-up finish in the last four weeks. It also marked his ninth top five of the season, a career high mark which is also third-best in the league at this point.

But a lap-253 incident – where Briscoe drove low in the middle of turn two, washed up the track and made contact with Tyler Reddick – sent Reddick into a skirmish with Christopher Bell as the trio raced three-wide for position. It was the first of several chaotic moments surrounding Briscoe.

Briscoe also had contact with Toyota colleague Erik Jones, who spun off the No. 19 10 laps prior to the incident with Reddick and Bell, and Jones finished 16th. Bell and Reddick ended up 17th and 19th, respectively, when all was said and done.

Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Briscoe was able to move on from those mishaps and contend at the end, though he ended one spot behind race winner William Byron.

“First off, I just want to apologize to Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell,” said Briscoe. “I made a really boneheaded move on my part. I got into the corner and got loose and ruined their day; that’s 100 percent on me.”

“There at the end, I was running William [Byron] down. I thought I was really in the catbird’s seat, and I just got there and kind of stalled out,” Briscoe added. “I kind of experienced that when I was leading earlier on. I caught the back of the field, and same thing; as soon as I got there, I just kind of died.

“It’s unfortunate. You're kind of limited on where you can go with the track repave and everything, but overall, it was a great finish for our Bass Pro Shops Toyota. It’s cool that [Bass Pro Shops CEO] Johnny Morris was here, I was wanting to win with him present.”

Briscoe collected his series-leading sixth pole of the season on Saturday and managed to stay competitive all day during the race. He finished fifth in stage one to collect six points and was able to work his way back through the field after strategy set him outside the top contenders in stage two.

He amassed 41 points on Sunday and sits eighth in the regular season standings. It wasn’t the second win of the year that the Mitchell, Ind., native wanted, but Sunday showed strength through adversity.

“For us to end up second was a good recovery. Our day kind of got flipped upside down whenever that caution came out and trapped us [a lap down], but we were able to rebound,” he said. “But congrats to William, he did a really good job.”

With three weeks remaining in the regular season, Briscoe has his eyes set on Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l to continue his hot streak as one of the hottest current drivers in the Cup Series.

Briscoe has been a good road racer in his career with eight top 10s in his Cup Series career while turning left and right, as well as winning success on road courses previously in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

At Watkins Glen he finished sixth last season with Stewart-Haas Racing, and most recently at California’s Sonoma Raceway, Briscoe was second to Shane van Gisbergen.

“At Sonoma nobody had anything for SVG, and then Dover two weeks ago I definitely felt like I could have won that one if I was a little more aggressive,” said Briscoe, reflecting on the past month. “Then today, I felt like I was kind of the second best there at the end.

“Even if the race had been another five laps, I just kind of died there at the end of the run.”

Despite being winless since June during his hot streak, Briscoe remains confident in finding victory lane again sooner rather than later.

“We’ve been in position enough, running second like that, you’re going to end up winning some of them,” he added. “It just hasn't gone our way the last three or four of them, so hopefully next week it’ll be that way and better for us.”

Coverage of the Go Bowling at the Glen begins Sunday, Aug. 10 at 2 p.m. ET on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.