DARLINGTON, SC – Chase Briscoe aims to continue his upward trajectory at Darlington Raceway in the Goodyear 400.
The driver of the No. 19 Free Bird Southern Spring Water Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing is in a points hole after the first five races. Bad finishes at Daytona, COTA and Phoenix have relegated him to 26th in points. He scored a much needed top-10 at Las Vegas last weekend, finishing eighth.
Darlington couldn’t come at a better time, as Briscoe is the most recent NASCAR Cup Series winner at the track and has won two of the last three races. In the Cook Out Southern 500 last season, Briscoe had one of the most dominant showings in the race’s history, leading 309 of the 367 laps and sweeping the stages.
While Briscoe is a proven winner at Darlington, he has struggled in the spring race, with just one top-10 in five starts. He has also never led a lap in the spring race. Add the fact there’s a new package and horsepower increase that could throw drivers and teams for a loop and there is a bit of skepticism present.
So, how is Briscoe approaching the weekend considering the unknowns?
“I think it’s hard to come into this one specifically and be like, oh yeah, our stuff’s going to be really, really good.” Briscoe said. “I’m hopeful that it’s good. But you don’t really know until we go out here and practice. So yeah, hopefully, you know, our team will hit it right. I do think it’s gonna be one of those races where only a handful of teams are really gonna hit it and have a huge advantage.”
Regardless of the horsepower and package changes, Darlington is still one of the toughest tracks on the schedule and yet, Briscoe has more wins in the Next-Gen car at Darlington than anyone.
Briscoe gave insight on why Darlington is one of his better tracks.
“Honestly, I loved this place from the first laps I ran around it. I don’t know, just something clicked right away.” Briscoe said. “I still had a lot to learn my first time coming here, but the style of racing here reminded me so much of Sprint Car racing where you’re constantly changing what you were doing. You’re always searching and trying to find that little bit more grip, and you go to some of these racetracks and you’re pretty repetitive. Like you just do the same thing, time in, time out. We’re here – you don’t ever run two laps the same.
“I mean, every lap, your car is just changing so much. So you’re always adapting, and that’s what I kind of loved about this place from the get go and then you just added the fact that you’re sliding all over the place. Yeah, really from the first time I came here, I was like, man, this is one of my favorite places, and then as the success came in, it obviously got closer and closer to the top. So yeah, I’ve always loved Darlington. It’s been a very influential place in my career and really my life in general.”
Briscoe will need to get consistent finishes soon as the new points format doesn’t award postseason berths off wins, but points only. Getting another good Darlington result will be just the cure for his early season woes.
Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com
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