NASCAR: 3 more potential surprise winners for 2021
By Randy Smith
Possible surprise winner No. 2 – Chase Briscoe
A Chase Briscoe win would be even more of a surprise win, even though he put on a dominant performance in the Xfinity Series last year before a late spin in the Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway caused him to watch the championship go to Team Penske’s Austin Cindric.
Briscoe’s struggles this season shouldn’t undermine what he did in the Xfinity Series and the flashes he showed that led him to his Cup Series promotion with Stewart-Haas Racing.
His win last year in at Darlington Raceway was one for the ages, bumping and banging against two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch. In a finish that showed shades of Kyle’s brother Kurt’s battle with Ricky Craven in 2003, Briscoe grabbed one of his nine wins and showed why he was ready for a Cup Series promotion.
While he has struggled as a rookie, Briscoe has shown his knack for road course racing. All three of his top 10 finishes this season have come in road course races, and there is another one coming up at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, where he won the inaugural Xfinity Series race last year. Can he pull off the upset in the inaugural Cup Series race at the track?