NASCAR driver rallies from 9 miles down to finish just 3 seconds behind

Chase Briscoe rallied from six laps off the lead lap to finish Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race in seventh place at Homestead-Miami Speedway, just 3.511 seconds off the lead.

Three words: never give up.

Those were the words that had to have been going through the mid of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe as he wheeled his #98 Ford around Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday afternoon in the Hooters 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

During the pace laps for this 167-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Homestead, Florida, at least one piece of ballast fell from his #98 Ford, forcing him into the pits for his team to make repairs.

When he eventually got going, he was six laps down.

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Such was the case for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin the Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway three Sundays ago. He entered the race six laps down, and after 405 laps around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Concord, North Carolina, he finished seven laps off the lead lap.

But in just 167 laps on Saturday afternoon, Briscoe was able to utilize caution flag periods, of which there were only two that took place due to incidents, strategy and speed to get back on the lead lap. By the race’s halfway mark, he was only one lap down.

So after effectively starting the 250.5-mile race nine miles behind the leader, the 25-year-old Mitchell, Indiana native finished in seventh place, just 3.511 seconds behind race winner Harrison Burton of Joe Gibbs Racing. A total of 14 drivers finished on the lead lap, and Briscoe ended up in the upper half of that pack.

Of course, his team will be penalized for the issue that set him back, just as Hamlin’s #11 team was a few weeks ago.

According to Section 12.5.2.7.4.d of the NASCAR Rule Book: “Loss or separation of added ballast from the vehicle will result in a four Race suspension of the crew chief, car chief, and head engineer. If NASCAR cannot identify which series or vehicle the lost ballast originated from, all vehicles entered for that Event from and associated with the team organization identified on the lost ballast may receive the suspensions.”

On the negative side for Briscoe, who entered the race as the leader of the championship standings, JR Motorsports’ Noah Gragson dominated the race and ended up finishing in third place to overtake him for the lead of the standings.

Gragson collected 18 of the maximum 20 stage points en route to securing 34 more for his third place finish while Briscoe only scored 30 for finishing in seventh. Briscoe now sits in second in the standings.

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Briscoe is set to try to continue his momentum from his rally yesterday in today’s Contender Boats 250 at the same track. This race is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET.

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