NASCAR: 5 playoff drivers who could already be in trouble
By Asher Fair
NASCAR playoff drivers who need to panic: No. 4 – Chase Briscoe
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe is in a situation similar to that of Austin Cindric, in that he won a race early in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season and used that win to qualify for the playoffs. He too wouldn’t have qualified for the playoffs on points alone.
Like Cindric, he also struggled after posting that win. In his next 25 starts, he recorded just two top 10 finishes. He did manage to make a surprise run to the round of eight, thanks to a run of four straight top 10 finishes spanning the round of 16 and the round of 12. He finished the year with six top 10 finishes in seven races, after having recorded just four in the first 29.
The 2023 season has not been pleasant to Briscoe thus far. He crashed out of the Daytona 500 and could only manage a 20th place finish at Auto Club Speedway. He finds himself sitting in 33rd in the point standings.
Entering the season, many wondered if perhaps Stewart-Haas Racing had a new top driver in Briscoe, especially with Kevin Harvick having decided that the 2023 season would be his last. However, even after making a surprisingly deep playoff run a year ago, Briscoe clearly still needs to prove himself.
Fortunately for him, a few of his best tracks are coming up on the schedule, including Phoenix Raceway, where he won and posted an average finish of 2.5 last year. The pressure will be on for him to perform there again this year and perhaps get back to victory lane so that he can return to the playoffs, as doing it on points may be a stretch.