Chase Briscoe at 8:40 pm ET on Monday, June 27, 2016.
Photo – ARS
Chase Briscoe is our guest on Fan4Racing NASCAR & Race Talk on Monday, June 27, 2016 at 8:40 pm ET. Call 929-477-1790 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite or @Sal_Sigala with any questions or comments during our LIVE broadcast.
This season has been a banner year for ARCA Racing Series driver, Chase Briscoe. Leading the series point standings in his rookie season, Briscoe has earned several milestones in his first full season, with Cunningham Motorsports.
Just a year ago, Briscoe was volunteering at the organization, hoping a door would open. In 2015, Team owners, Briggs Cunningham and Kerry Scherer saw some potential in Briscoe and gave the open-wheel, sprint car racer his shot in stock cars with a two-race deal. After qualifying fifth at Lucas Oil Raceway in his series debut, Briscoe brought home a top-ten finish at tenth-place. He went on to Salem later in the season and after qualifying seventh, Briscoe finished fifth.
This season, before heading to Winchester Speedway, Briscoe has earned four poles, is leading the SCOTT Rookie of the Year contest, and on top the Valvoline Lap Leader board. Working with Crew Chief, Chad Bryant, Briscoe recently earned his career-best second-place finish at Michigan and in nine starts this season he has five top-fives and eight top-ten finishes. His only finish outside the top-ten was at Salem when he dropped out, with four laps to go. with a mechanical problem.
The only feat missing from the Mitchell, Indiana native’s resume was a victory and that changed this weekend at Briscoe’s home state track – Winchester Speedway in the Herr’s Potato Chips 200. After earning his fifth pole of the season, Briscoe finally closed the deal with a win – his first series career victory in 12 starts.
“This feels so good…I’ve been so frustrated,” Briscoe said. “To finally get my first win, and especially in my home state is just incredible,”
Briscoe’s win came after Dalton Sargeant battled hard leading up to the last restart. A debris caution set up the restart on lap 177 and the last duel between the two contenders. The two raced door-to-door for three laps before Briscoe was able to out-duel his challenger, racing his No. 77 ahead of Sargeant’s No. 55. Sargeant dropped back, while Briscoe charged ahead to the checkered flag. Adding to the challenge of winning was the heat, with temperatures rising into the 90’s
“This one was definitely harder than most,” Briscoe said. “I was getting worn out…it was so hot. You have to be up on the wheel every lap here. We almost threw it away on those final restarts. This was our race to lose.”
Sargeant certainly had a win in his sight by taking the lead in the last half of the race. Briscoe also had the victory in sight and raced back to the front for the last 24 laps. In three late restarts, Sargent took the lead twice, but it was Briscoe winning the battle on the last restart to win the race.
“I can’t thank my car owners Briggs Cunningham and Kerry Scherer enough,” Briscoe continued. “Last year, I was catching tires for Cunningham Motorsports. Now we’re leading the points. I feel like the next win is going to come a little easier now.”
Next up for the ARCA Racing Series, is Iowa Speedway for the ARCA 150 presented by Casey’s General Stores on July 9th on FOX Sports 1 with live timing and scoring also available at ARCARacing.com