Event: Alsco 300 (Round 15 of 33) Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series Location: Kentucky Speedway in Sparta (1.5-mile oval) Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/110 laps) Start/Finish: 12th/2nd(Running, completed 200 of 200 laps) Point Standing: 1st (643 points, 19 ahead of second)
Race Winner: Austin Cindric of Team Penske (Ford) Stage 1 Winner: Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet) Stage 2 Winner: Austin Cindric of Team Penske (Ford)
Overview:
Chase Briscoe was the picture of perseverance Friday night in the Alsco 300 – the second part of the NASCAR Xfinity Series doubleheader at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. The 25-year-old racer from Mitchell, Indiana, started 12th in the 36-car field after the invert from Thursday night’s race where he finished fourth. Briscoe wheeled his No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang deftly, finishing seventh in the first stage and fourth in the second stage. Crew chief Richard Boswell called for several big adjustments to loosen up the handling of Briscoe’s Ford throughout the night, but it wasn’t until the final caution of the race on lap 180 that Briscoe was in a position to challenge for the lead. After pitting for one final adjustment and four fresh tires, Briscoe was third for the lap-187 restart. He made a bold move to the inside of Daniel Hemric to power to second place, whereupon Briscoe was able to run on the back bumper of race leader Austin Cindric. But soon Cindric pulled away and opened up a sizeable gap to the No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang, winning the race by 2.262 seconds over Briscoe, who finished second.
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“I think Kentucky is, by far, my worst racetrack on the schedule. I can never get my car to drive how I want it to drive. I don’t know if it’s something I’m doing, but I keep trying everything and nothing seems to work. So, I just need to do more homework on this place. Overall, I didn’t feel like we were a fourth-place or second-place car either night, so to be able to do that on what I think are our worst two nights of the year is a reason to keep our head high. We’ll go on to Texas next week, which is kind of a sister track to this one, and probably my second-worst mile-and-a-half. I feel like the high-grip, mile-and-a-half tracks with one lane of racing are where I struggle. We’ll move on to next week with our Ford Performance Racing School Mustang and try to learn from tonight and last night and be a little bit better.”
Notes:
● Briscoe earned his ninth top-five of the season and his 23rd top-five in 65 career Xfinity Series starts. ● This was Briscoe’s seventh finish of second or better this season, a tally that includes a series-leading five wins. ● Briscoe finished seventh in Stage 1 to earn four bonus points and fourth in Stage 2 to earn seven more bonus points. ● Austin Cindric won the Alsco 300 to score his fourth career Xfinity Series victory, his second of the season and his second at Kentucky. ● There were five caution periods for a total of 27 laps. ● Only 12 of the 36 drivers in the Alsco 300 finished on the lead lap. ● Briscoe extended his lead in the championship standings to 19 points over second-place Noah Gragson.
Next Up:
The next event on the Xfinity Series schedule is the My Bariatric Solutions 300 on Saturday, July 18 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage on NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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