Chase Briscoe Holds Kyle Busch Off In Wild Darlington NASCAR Xfinity Series Finish

Chase Briscoe Holds Kyle Busch Off In Wild Darlington NASCAR Xfinity Series Finish

by May 21, 2020 0 comments

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Chase Briscoe held off Kyle Busch in a thrilling finish to win the Toyota 200 at Darlington Raceway on Thursday.

While holding Justin Allgaier at bay, the final caution of the afternoon flew on lap 133, when Michael Annett spun in Turn 4. On the restart, Allgaier and Briscoe rubbed fender and the race was on to the finish. Allgaier quickly faded, and Kyle Busch who overcame a pit road speeding penalty during the final stops entered the picture.

Coming to take the while flag, Briscoe hit the outside wall in Turn 4, and the mistake allowed Busch to get alongside of him as they raced down the frontstretch. Busch pulled out in front in Turn 2, but he then slid up the track and bounced off Briscoe who then hit the wall. As the two drivers exited Turn 2, Busch had to relinquish to Briscoe.

“Getting into (Turn) One I knew that there was no way he was gonna drive in deeper than me,” Briscoe said. “I wasn’t gonna let it happen.  He was gracious enough to at least leave me a little bit of a lane and it was a heck of a race.”

In pursuit, Busch kept pace with Briscoe down the backstretch and was able to make a move on the bottom in Turns 3 and 4; however, Busch was unable to complete the pass for the lead, and Briscoe went on to win his fourth-career NASCAR Xfinity Series race and the second one of this season. The win was an emotional victory for Briscoe. Just two days ago, his wife suffered a miscarriage of their first child.

“This is the best thing that could happen, honestly,” Briscoe said. “For those that don’t know, we had a miscarriage Tuesday of our daughter and, to be honest with you, I wasn’t sure what racing we would do. At the initial start I was all over the place emotionally, and then when I had the lead with 50 to go I was just making so many mistakes because I was literally crying inside of the race car. God is so good. To be able to do this and it’s all because of Him. Before when I got dressed I prayed that whatever His will is just let it be done today. I knew he was gonna have a high because of the low and it’s just unbelievable to win here at Darlington and to beat Kyle Busch doing it.”

Busch finished second, posting his seventh top-five finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Darlington. The last time Busch competed in a series race at the track, Too Tough To Tame in 2015, he also finished runner-up. On Thursday, Busch felt that if he hadn’t received the speeding penalty on pit road, then maybe he would’ve restarted higher than third on the final restart.

“If I didn’t have the speeding penalty, I probably wouldn’t have been in that situation anyways, we would have probably been leading on the restart and would have been in Chase’s position, but he ran a great race,” Busch said. “I passed him early on in the race and he ran the typical Darlington and was pretty smart about it. A few of the other guys were running on your door and all that sort of stuff, which Chase did at the end. It’s the last lap, you’ve got to. You have to keep yourself in that position and do all that it takes to get it done. He did a smart thing, did a good job and held onto it and we’re able to talk about the exciting finish of it.”

Justin Allgaier finished second, followed by Austin Cindric, Noah Gragson, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Sieg, Ross Chastain, Harrison Burton and Justin Haley rounding out the top-10.

Throughout the afternoon, there were 10 lead changes among six drivers. Gragson led a race high of 46 laps.

There were also five cautions for 28 laps. The only accident of the day was when Annett spun in the final laps.

Up next on the schedule for the NASCAR Xfinity Series is the Alsco 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Monday, May 25. Live coverage will broadcast on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) and the Performance Racing Network (PRN) at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

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