How Chase Briscoe made a surprise entry into the NASCAR playoffs with a victory at Darlington
Chase Briscoe entered the last race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season needing a miracle to make the playoffs. That miracle came on Sunday when he held off Kyle Busch to win the Cook Out Southern 500.
Going into Darlington Raceway, three playoff slots remained for those without a win, but Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs effectively had two of them thanks to their points positions.
The 16th and final seed seemed to come down to Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, and Ross Chastain, who were separated by 27 points total. On the other hand, Busch and Briscoe – 19th and 20th in the standings – were respectively 106 and 144 points behind Buescher, meaning they had to win to qualify.
Briscoe’s chances seemed slim. Stewart-Haas Racing had been struggling mightily in their final season before their planned closure at the end of the year, while Wallace had won the pole and Buescher nearly claimed the first race at Darlington in May.
Much of the race seemed to play into this as Wallace ran well early but could not close the gap to Buescher. Briscoe, who qualified third, raced alongside Wallace but needed to go beyond that and contend for the win, which was going to be difficult as Kyle Larson led 263 of 367 laps.
Things started to look up for Briscoe when Buescher was squeezed into the wall by Todd Gilliland, knocking his pace down a peg, and a strong pit stop following Carson Hocevar’s crash on Lap 337 to keep him at the front.
Eight laps after Briscoe passed leader Ross Chastain, who stayed out despite being on severely degraded tyres as he also needed a win to make the playoffs, Wallace’s hopes died when he was collected in a multi-car accident that also claimed Briscoe’s team-mates Josh Berry and Noah Gragson.
The race resumed with 16 laps as Briscoe continued to lead. Busch roared to life in a desperate pursuit, slowly but surely closing the gap. The battle reminded many of their other duel at Darlington during the 2020 Xfinity Series season, even down to Briscoe brushing the wall before ultimately winning.
“After I watched Kyle Busch pit behind me, here he is in second. I’m like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. I’ve worked 300 some laps to get to the lead, now Kyle is going to steal it from us,’” Briscoe remarked.
“It was déjà vu because that Xfinity race, I was sideways, way loose at the end, he kept running me down and running me down. I hit the wall like I did at the Xfinity race with two to go. I was waiting for him to do obviously whatever he had to do to get in the playoffs too.”
Ultimately, his fears did not happen. Busch ran out of time and Briscoe held on to score his first win since 2022.
“I just needed him to have maybe three or four more laps-older tyres for me to be able to break through the wake,” said Busch. “Once I got within his air, I really didn’t have enough to power through that, to get closer. I was kind of sliding already. […] Maybe I am a washed up old dog, but hopefully I can find a few more trophies.”
While his odds are against him in the playoffs given SHR’s decline in recent years, getting to be the team’s final shot at a championship means a lot to Briscoe. He grew up a fan of team co-owner Tony Stewart and has followed a similar career path from dirt to stock cars; his #14 was also previously driven by Stewart to the 2011 title.
With SHR’s impending shutdown (Gene Haas, the other owner, plans to retain two charters to continue in NASCAR as Haas Factory Team banner while Stewart is gone entirely), Briscoe believes it would be “huge” from a “morale standpoint” to go out on a high note.
“I’ve seen that car win time and time and time again, win a championship,” Briscoe continued. “It’s been 90-something races since that car has been in Victory Lane. We have 11 chances left to do it. We’ve been decent this year. Been close a couple times.
“It would have been awesome if we won next week, but it would have stunk. At least now, we have a chance to go win a championship. We don’t have any playoff points or anything like that.
“At the same time, we were below the cut line the whole time last time, we went to the Round of 8. We were talking earlier, I kind of love the back up against the wall thing. That’s certainly what we’re going to have now. We just got to go. If we do what we did tonight, we can beat anybody.”
- dismal regular season, leaving him a paltry 15th in points at the end of the regular season with just eight top tens. Regardless, his quest for a third championship remains alive after clinching a playoff spot at Nashville.
- Austin Cindric (2,007 points): Cindric always seemed like the weakest link at Penske, sitting 19th in points while scoring his only win at Gateway after Blaney ran out of fuel on the last lap. Even so, he’s in the postseason for the second time in his three-year Cup career.
- Daniel Suárez (2,006 points): Suárez earned a playoff trip in dramatic fashion when he beat Busch and Blaney at Atlanta by just three one-thousandths of a second.
- Alex Bowman (2,005 points): Bowman was the last man standing when the Chicago Street Race was shortened by rain, securing his playoff slot after missing the show in 2023.
- Chase Briscoe (2,005 points): Although Briscoe has the same amount of points as Bowman, the latter accumulated five playoff points from stage wins to Briscoe’s zero.
- Harrison Burton (2,005 points): Like Briscoe, Burton’s prayers were answered at the last minute when he scored an upset win at Daytona last Sunday. However, his hopes of making a deep playoff run are extremely slim as he was 34th in points during the regular season.
- Ty Gibbs (2,004 points): The youngest driver on the grid at just 21 years of age, the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity champion qualified for his maiden playoffs on consistency with 11 top-ten finishes and 7 top fives.
- Martin Truex Jr. (2,004 points): Gibbs’ team-mate is on the opposite extreme of the age and experience spectrum as the 44-year-old hopes to go for the title in his 20th and final season. Truex racked up nine top tens and four top fives during the regular season.
