Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia

Briscoe fends off Busch for emotional Darlington win

A week of heartbreak and rain delays ended up with a trip to Victory Lane for Chase Briscoe.

Race Winner Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford

Race Winner Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford

NASCAR Media

Race Winner Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
Race Winner Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford, Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota

Briscoe survived a wild back-and-forth battle with veteran Kyle Busch over the final nine laps but just clipped Busch at the finish to win Thursday’s rain-delayed Toyota 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

 

The race was the first for the series since March 7 at Phoenix Raceway. A week later, all professional sports shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NASCAR returned to live race last Sunday with no fans. Thursday’s race was the third event at Darlington this week. Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin won the Cup series Sunday and Wednesday.

The week has been an extremely difficult one for Briscoe, who announced on social media Tuesday that his wife, Marissa, suffered a miscarriage. Briscoe was at the track at Darlington sharing the doctor’s visit virtually when the couple received the news.

“Man, this is for my wife. This is the hardest week I’ve ever had to deal with,” Briscoe said, as tears rolled down his face. “God is so good. With 50 to go, I was crying inside the race car. Emotionally, I wasn’t there at all.

“There’s nothing else to say other than God is just so glorious. This is more than a race win – this is the biggest day of my life after the toughest day of my life.

“To be able to beat the best there is, is just so satisfying.”

 

The win is the fourth of Briscoe’s career and second this season.

Justin Allgaier finished third, Austin Cindric was fourth and Noah Gragson rounded out the top-five. The series returns to action on Monday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, again with no fans in attendance.

Read Also:

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, Busch was first off pit road but was penalized for speeding during his stop and had to restart from the rear of the field.

When the race returned to green on Lap 97, Allgaier led the way as Busch was mired back in 21st.

Briscoe quickly grabbed the lead on the restart as Allgaier dropped back to second.

With 45 laps remaining, Brandon Jones headed to pit road for an unscheduled stop under green (loose wheel) while Briscoe continued to maintain about a 1-second lead over Allgaier.

With 30 laps to go, Briscoe continued to hold the lead while Busch had cracked the top-10 and moved to eighth, 10 seconds behind the leader.

Anthony Alfredo tagged the wall with 20 to go but was able to continue on without incident.

One lap later, Allgaier got around Briscoe to take the lead for the first time in the race.

Michael Annett spun off Turn 4 with 15 laps remaining to bring out a caution. All the lead-lap cars elected to pit with Briscoe the first off pit road.

On the restart on Lap 139, Briscoe led the way followed by Allgaier, Busch, Cindric and Daniel Hemric. Busch moved into second on the restart.

Stage 2

Busch made short work of the field, taking the Stage 2 win comfortably over Allgaier by more than 2 seconds.

Gragson ended up third, Briscoe fourth and Michael Annett rounded out the top-five.

Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, all the lead-lap cars elected to pit with Busch the first off pit road. On the restart on Lap 51, Busch was followed by Gragson and Allgaier.

With 30 laps remaining in the second stage, Busch held a steady 1-second lead over Allgaier while Chastain had moved into third.

By Lap 70, Gragson had moved back into third after falling back on the restart as Busch expanded his lead over Allgaier to 2 seconds.

After 80 laps, Busch had built a 2.5-second lead over Allgaier as Gragson remained in third, nearly 6 seconds behind the leader.

Stage 1

Gragson dominated the first 45-lap segment and easily held off Chastain to claim the Stage 1 win – his second of the season.

Ryan Sieg was third, Busch fourth and Cindric completed the top-five.

Gragson, who started on the pole, took command early and maintained a small but steady lead over Sieg through the first 10 laps.

On Lap 16, NASCAR threw a competition caution to allow teams to check tire wear and make adjustments because of heavy rain earlier in the day.

When the race returned to green on Lap 25, Gragson remained in the lead followed by Sieg and Haley.

With 15 laps to go in the first stage, Gragson continued with about a 1-second lead over Chastain with Cindric having moved into third.

A caution for debris on the frontstretch was thrown on Lap 35. The race returned to green on Lap 40 with Gragson out front.

The cars of Joe Graf Jr., Kody Vanderwal and Landon Cassill had to start the race from rear of the field, all for unapproved adjustments.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Laps Led
1 98 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 147 01:46'46.000 45
2 54 United States Kyle Busch Toyota 147 0.086 45
3 7 United States Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 147 0.702 9
4 22 United States Austin Cindric Ford 147 1.786  
5 9 United States Noah Gragson Chevrolet 147 2.329 46
6 8 United States Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 147 2.507  
7 39 United States Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 147 5.832  
8 10 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 147 6.132 1
9 20 United States Harrison Burton Toyota 147 6.686  
10 11 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 147 7.646  
11 02 United States Brett Moffitt Chevrolet 147 8.188  
12 51 United States Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 147 8.885  
13 68 United States Brandon Brown Chevrolet 147 9.098 1
14 21 Anthony Alfredo Chevrolet 147 9.426  
15 6 United States B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 147 10.354  
16 92 United States Josh Williams Chevrolet 147 11.047  
17 90 Canada Alex Labbé Chevrolet 147 16.295  
18 18 Riley Herbst Toyota 147 17.777  
19 08 Joe Jr. Chevrolet 147 23.530  
20 19 United States Brandon Jones Toyota 147 23.713  
21 07 United States Ray Black Jr. Chevrolet 147 24.491  
22 61 United States Timmy Hill Toyota 147 25.595  
23 0 United States Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 147 28.287  
24 13 United States Chad Finchum Toyota 147 29.024  
25 1 United States Michael Annett Chevrolet 146 1 lap  
26 44 United States Tommy Joe Martins Chevrolet 146 1 lap  
27 15 Colby Howard Chevrolet 146 1 lap  
28 47 United States Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 145 2 laps  
29 78 United States Vinnie Miller Chevrolet 145 2 laps  
30 99 Mason Massey Toyota 143 4 laps  
31 36 United States Ronnie Bassett Jr. Chevrolet 143 4 laps  
32 52 Kody Vanderwal Chevrolet 142 5 laps  
33 74 United States Bayley Currey Chevrolet 142 5 laps  
34 5 United States Matt Mills Chevrolet 135 12 laps  
35 93 United States Myatt Snider Chevrolet 129 18 laps  
36 4 United States Jesse Little Chevrolet 122 25 laps  
37 26 Colin Garrett Toyota 111 36 laps  
38 89 United States Landon Cassill Chevrolet 35 112 laps  
39 66 United States Stephen Leicht Toyota 1 146 laps  

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Darlington Xfinity race postponed: "What’s another couple days?"
Next article Chase Briscoe: “I was emotionally a wreck, all over the place”

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia