Chase Briscoe Holds Off Kyle Busch for Darlington Xfinity Win

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DARLINGTON, SC – RIS – During a heart-braking week for Chase and Marissa Briscoe, Chase held off all-time winner Kyle Busch to win the Toyota 200 NASCAR Xfinity race at Darlington Raceway on Thursday.  A 10-lap shootout between Briscoe, Justin Allgaier, and Busch turned into a last lap shootout between the driver with the most Xfinity career wins (Busch), and a 23 year old driver who had recently heard the worst news of his life (Briscoe). Running side-by-side the entire last lap, Briscoe was able to win.  The tire marks on the side of his car showed how difficult it was.

“This is the biggest day of my life after the toughest day of my life,” Briscoe said.

Briscoe was in Darlington on Tuesday awaiting the race’s original start when he digitally joined wife, Marissa, for a 12-week exam for their expected baby. The couple heard the tragic news: There was no fetal heartbeat. 

Even though Briscoe was racing with a heavy heart, he beat his two rivals out of the pits after the final caution.  Briscoe would start first in the high groove while Allgaier would start in on the inside.  Busch was lurking in third.  There were 7 laps to go.

Briscoe had a great start to quickly go past Allgaier and watched as Busch followed.  He built a narrow lead until Busch got alongside his Mustang. They touched a few times, but Briscoe held his car straight and into victory lane.

Busch seemed to have the race in hand as he took the second stage (Allgaier took the first) in a dominant showing. But he was called for speeding in the pits and ordered to the back of the 39-car field.

After two consecutive second place finishes, Busch seemed upbeat.

" I had a good showing, put on a little bit of an exciting show there at the end," he said.

It almost did not happen.  Rain plagued all the Darlington races. After the delay Tuesday because of rain, more storms delayed the planned noon start for another 4½ hours.

Allgaier finished third, Austin Cindric fourth and Noah Gragson, the pole sitter who won the first stage, was fifth.

Hopefully, there will be dry skies for the races at Charlotte Motor Speedway,  The Coda-Cola 600 will be run on Memorial Day.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 5
Darlington Raceway: Darlington, SC: 1.366: Mile Paved

Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1, 
11, Chase Briscoe, No. 98 HighPoint.com Ford, 147, 8, 4, 3, 45, 5, 50, Running
2, 26, Kyle Busch(i), No. 54 Thank You Heroes/M&M's Toyota, 147, 4, 1, 2, 45, , 0, Running
3, 10, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 Precision Build Chevrolet, 147, 6, 2, 3, 9, , 48, Running
4, 7, Austin Cindric, No. 22 MoneyLion Ford, 147, 5, 8, , , , 42, Running
5, 1, Noah Gragson, No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/BRCC Chevrolet, 147, 1, 3, 1, 46, 1, 50, Running
6, 23, Daniel Hemric, No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet, 147, 7, 6, , , , 40, Running
7, 4, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 CMR Roofing Chevrolet, 147, 3, 9, , , , 40, Running
8, 9, Ross Chastain, No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet, 147, 2, 7, 1, 1, , 42, Running
9, 12, Harrison Burton #, No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota, 147, , , , , , 28, Running
10, 3, Justin Haley, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 147, 10, , , , , 28, Running
11, 22, Brett Moffitt(i), No. 02 FR8Auctions Chevrolet, 147, , , , , , 0, Running
12, 30, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 Repairables.com Chevrolet, 147, , 10, , , , 26, Running
13, 6, Brandon Brown, No. 68 CCU Class of 2020 Chevrolet, 147, , , 1, 1, , 24, Running
14, 17, Anthony Alfredo, No. 21 iRacing Chevrolet, 147, , , , , , 23, Running
15, 13, BJ McLeod, No. 6 TeamJDMotorsports.com Chevrolet, 147, , , , , , 22, Running
16, 15, Josh Williams, No. 92 OpenForBusiness/ChasingFreedom Chevrolet, 147, , , , , , 21, Running
17, 16, Alex Labbe, No. 90 Larue Snowblowers/rousseau Chevrolet, 147, , , , , , 20, Running
18, 5, Riley Herbst #, No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota, 147, , , , , , 19, Running
19, 36, Joe Graf Jr #, No. 08 CORE Development Group Chevrolet, 147, , , , , , 18, Running
20, 8, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Toyota Service Centers Toyota, 147, , , , , , 17, Running
21, 19, Ray Black II, No. 07 CDA Tech Chevrolet, 147, , , , , , 16, Running
22, 28, Timmy Hill(i), No. 61 RoofClaim.com Toyota, 147, , , , , , 0, Running
23, 34, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 0 Kids First Community Chevrolet, 147, , , , , , 14, Running
24, 24, Chad Finchum, No. 13 GREAT SOUTHERN HOMES Toyota, 147, , , , , , 13, Running
25, 2, Michael Annett, No. 1 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 146, 9, 5, , , , 20, Running
26, 25, Tommy Joe Martins, No. 44 Skyview Partners Chevrolet, 146, , , , , , 11, Running
27, 31, Colby Howard, No. 15 Project Hope Foundation Chevrolet, 146, , , , , , 10, Running
28, 29, Joe Nemechek(i), No. 47 Mutt & Jeff Porkskins Chevrolet, 145, , , , , , 0, Running
29, 20, Vinnie Miller, No. 78 Koolbox Chevrolet, 145, , , , , , 8, Running
30, 33, Mason Massey, No. 99 Gerber Collision & Glass Toyota, 143, , , , , , 7, Running
31, 32, Ronnie Bassett Jr, No. 36 Bassett Gutters & More Chevrolet, 143, , , , , , 6, Running
32, 21, Kody Vanderwal #, No. 52 Circle Track Warehouse/Franklin Signs Chevrolet, 142, , , , , , 5, Running
33, 35, Bayley Currey(i), No. 74 Save22 Chevrolet, 142, , , , , , 0, Running
34, 27, Matt Mills, No. 5 J F Electric Chevrolet, 135, , , , , , 3, Running
35, 14, Myatt Snider, No. 93 Superior Essex Chevrolet, 129, , , , , , 2, Running
36, 18, Jesse Little #, No. 4 TeamJDMotorsports.com Chevrolet, 122, , , , , , 1, Vibration
37, 39, Colin Garrett, No. 26 Rosie Network Toyota, 111, , , , , , 1, Running
38, 38, Landon Cassill, No. 89 Visone RV Chevrolet, 35, , , , , , 1, Handling
39, 37, Stephen Leicht, No. 66 CrashClaimsR.us Toyota, 1, , , , , , 1, Suspension
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie Race Length: 147 Laps: 200.802 Miles

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 44 Mins, 26 Secs.
Average Speed: 115.367 MPH
Margin of Victory: .086 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 9, 10, 39, 54, 22, 7, 8, 98, 1, 11
Stage 2 Top 10: 54, 7, 9, 98, 1, 8, 10, 22, 39, 51

Race Comments: Chase Briscoe won the Toyota 200 at Darlington Raceway, his fourth victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: Nos. 08, 52, 89 (Unapproved Adjustments).

Caution Flags: 5 for 28 laps;
Laps:
 17-24 (Competition Caution [74]);
35-39 (Debris from No. 93 [15]);
47-50 (Stage 1 Conclusion [99]);
92-96 (Stage 2 Conclusion [90]);
133-138 (No. 1 Spins Turn 4 [90]).

Lead Changes: 10 among 6 drivers;
N. Gragson 1-46;
R. Chastain 47;
K. Busch(i) 48-91;
J. Allgaier 92;
B. Brown 93;
J. Allgaier 94-95;
C. Briscoe 96-129;
J. Allgaier 130-135;
C. Briscoe 136-145;
K. Busch(i) 146;
C. Briscoe 147.

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race Award: Chase Briscoe, No. 98
Sunoco Rookie of the Race Award: Harrison Burton, No. 20

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2020, Issue 5, Posted 8:01 PM, 05.21.2020