Chase Briscoe holds off Kyle Busch in Southern 500 to advance to NASCAR Cup playoffs

Darlington, South Carolina NASCAR – Chase Briscoe knew he was carrying the entire weight of Stewart-Haas Racing into the final circuits on Sunday night at Darlington Raceway. And he couldn’t be happier.

“I feel like I run better under heavy pressure,” Briscoe remarked. “I love the Game 7, pressure-heavy moment.”

He made a stunning three-wide pass late in the race and held on to win the Southern 500 and qualify for the playoffs, giving Stewart-Haas Racing one final chance to add to its championship legacy before the season ends.

Briscoe and his team enter the postseason relishing the pressure in the final days of the program that won NASCAR championships with Tony Stewart in 2011 and Kevin Harvick in 2014.

Chase Briscoe Holds Off Kyle Chase Briscoe Holds Off Kyle Busch In Southern 500 To Advance To NASCAR Cup Playoffs In Southern 500 To Advance To NASCAR Cup Playoffs

Briscoe received a call from Stewart, his owner, and drivers approached him to congratulate him on his victory.

Briscoe claimed the lead with a three-wide maneuver over Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain before outrunning two-time series champion Kyle Busch at the finish.

Briscoe drew away on the last restart with 17 laps to hold off Busch, who, like Briscoe, needed a win to make the playoffs.

“We just won the Southern 500!” an emotional Briscoe announced over the vehicle radio.

Briscoe is ready to accomplish more with Stewart-Haas.

“Yeah, this group, the day we found out that the team wasn’t going to exist anymore, we went over to the shop board, looked at each other and said, ‘We’re in this to the end,'” Briscoe told me. “All week, I kept saying, ‘We’ve got one bullet left in the chamber.’ “That bullet struck.”

Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing earned the remaining two postseason slots based on points, while Bubba Wallace and Chastain, who were both within 27 points of the cutoff line when the race began, fell short.

Briscoe’s stunning move spoilt Kyle Larson’s great Darlington performance, in which he led 263 laps but could not recover after being passed by the eventual victor. Larson attempted to pass Tyler Reddick for the regular-season points title — and the 15 extra points the leader receives — but fell one point short.

Christopher Bell finished third, followed by Larson, Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Corey LaJoie, and Reddick.

In his final season before retirement, Truex only needed a solid, problem-free run at the “Too Tough To Tame” track to progress. Instead, he placed his fate in the hands of others when he crashed on Lap 3 when his car slipped up and collided with defending NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney.

However, following Larson’s victory in the second stage (he also won the first stage), NASCAR said Truex had secured a position in the 16-driver playoff field.

Bubba Wallace entered the weekend as the first driver out of the playoffs, and he received a boost when he claimed his first Darlington pole Saturday. But, with 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan watching from his pit box, Wallace was involved in a six-car collision 24 laps from the finish line.

Jordan, wearing headphones and watching carefully, threw his hands up and bent his head as he saw Wallace in the wreck.

“I hate that I wasn’t good enough to finish 16th this year,” Wallace remarked. “Stinks saying that, but wasn’t for a lack of effort.”

Busch failed to win for the second week, falling to a fellow winless driver this season. He was defeated by Harrison Burton last week in Daytona.

“Hate it for our guys,” said Busch, who won the championships in 2015 and 2019. “Something to work on and improve for. We just missed a lot early in the year and in the middle of the year by being in this position, on the outside looking in.”

Chase Briscoe Holds Off Kyle Chase Briscoe Holds Off Kyle Busch In Southern 500 To Advance To NASCAR Cup Playoffs In Southern 500 To Advance To NASCAR Cup Playoffs

Reddick’s Race
Tyler Reddick overcame a stomach sickness to defeat Larson in the regular season final. He stated that his son fell ill in Daytona last week, which, as most parents are aware, made Reddick prone to illness.

Reddick felt it coming around midday Friday and assumed it had cleaned up by Sunday. Then, it came in full force as the race started. Reddick thanked his staff for keeping him medicated and hydrated throughout.

“At one point, I was just waiting to puke all over myself,” he told me. “Thankfully, they kept that from happening.”

Playoff field
Reddick earned the regular-season title, while Larson finished second. Chase Elliott leads the remaining playoff drivers, followed by Christopher Bell, William Byron, Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Briscoe, Gibbs, and Truex.

The first round begins in Atlanta and proceeds to Watkins Glen and Bristol before the pitch is reduced to 12.

Honouring Cale
Cale Yarborough, the Hall of Fame driver who died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 84, was honored at his hometown track by Dale Jarrett, who drove the 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass that Yarborough used to win his third consecutive Cup Series title in 1978 during pace laps. Yarborough, who grew up a few miles away, won five of the Labour Day weekend crown jewel races at Darlington, behind only Jeff Gordon with six.

SOURCE | AP