Stewart/Haas youngster Chase Briscoe, who was the best rookie in 2021, gets his first Cup win in a three-way battle at Phoenix and makes history
The NASCAR Cup Series now has 200 drivers who have won at least one race in its history written since 1949. Three candidates put themselves in position for their first Cup victory in the closing stages of the Ruoff Mortgage 500 in Phoenix on Sunday. They also finished in the top three places, but by their very nature only one of them took the first win.
Chase Briscoe at the wheel of the 14 Stewart/Haas Ford edged out Ross Chastain (Trackhouse-Chevrolet) and Tyler Reddick (Childress-Chevrolet) in the tight closing stages. While Chastain and Reddick still have to wait for their first Cup victory, Briscoe has now clinched it in the early stages of his second season. In 2021, he was the rookie with the most points. Now he is the 200th Cup winner in history.
“This is unbelievable. I was crying during the last lap,” said Briscoe, who was still visibly upset during the winner’s interview. In his rookie season of 2021, Briscoe had already come very close to his first victory at his home race on the Indianapolis circuit. Now he’s done it on the one-mile Phoenix oval.
The 27-year-old Stewart/Haas driver’s victory means there have been four different winners in the first four points races of the Next Gen era: Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and just Chase Briscoe. And the win also means Hendrick Motorsports missed a chance at the West Coast sweep (wins at Fontana, Las Vegas and Phoenix).
Hendrick driver Kyle Larson, who just clinched the 2021 NASCAR title at Phoenix a little over four months ago, was one of those moved to the back of the grid this time. The 5 Chevrolet Camaro was still being worked on after the technical inspection was completed (Saturday). The same applied to the Wood-Ford of Harrison Burton. Meanwhile, Ricky Stenhouse had to go to the back of the grid because the engine in his JTG Chevrolet had to be changed.
At the start, pole setter Ryan Blaney (Penske-Ford) dictated the pace. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch (Gibbs-Toyota), who started from P11, was the first to generously cut the ominous kink at the start/finish and thus made up a few positions early on. However, these were lost again shortly afterwards, as Kyle Busch struggled to get going on the start after the first pit stop.
Stage wins for Byron and Blaney – hardly any incidents
Kyle Busch wasn’t the only one to have problems during the first pit stop run. Both leader Ryan Blaney and chaser Denny Hamlin (Gibbs-Toyota) were “flashed”. So Joey Logano (Penske-Ford) led the first restart, but promptly lost the top spot to Chase Briscoe, who was in great form.
But it wasn’t Briscoe who took the Stage 1 win, but William Byron (Hendrick-Chevrolet), who shortened the “dogleg” on the second restart in a similarly radical way as Kyle Busch had done at the start of the race. Reason for yellow was a wheel loss and crash of Corey LaJoie (Spire-Chevrolet). While Byron won the first race segment, Briscoe saw the first stage flag in second place, Chase Elliott (Hendrick-Chevrolet) in third.
Due to strategy, Ryan Blaney was again at the front at the start of Stage 2, although he had collected his speeding penalty in Stage 1. However, he had not pitted during the first stage caution. And because the only yellow in Stage 2 (Christopher Bell’s spin) was in his favour, Blaney made up for the disadvantage of his penalty. From then on, he was back in the same rhythm as the rest of the leading group.
And Blaney actually managed to win the second race segment. Elliott was second, Kevin Harvick (Stewart/Haas-Ford) third. While there had only been two incidents up to that point, this was to change in the final race segment.
Truex crash, Jones crash and Elliott spin
Coming out of pit lane as the leader was Chase Elliott, but things didn’t go well for long without a yellow in Stage 3. Martin Truex Jr. (Gibbs-Toyota) crashed into the wall in turn 2, whereupon the car stopped across the track. The reason for the crash was a puncture on the right front. “There was no announcement. The tyre just blew up in my face,” said Truex Jr.
On the sixth restart of the day overall, Chase Briscoe struck, taking front-runner Elliott by surprise and repeating the lead he briefly held in Stage 1. Briscoe reeled off lap after lap with confidence and withstood the pressure from Elliott. But shortly before the end there was another yellow. Just like a week ago in Las Vegas, this was triggered by a crash of Erik Jones.
This led to a final pit stop under yellow. During this stop, the Stewart/Haas crew with car number 14 quickly finished off their driver. At the exit of the pit lane, a Stewart/Haas double lead was even recorded, because Briscoe’s team mate Kevin Harvick came back onto the track in second place. Elliott, on the other hand, lost a few positions with a slow stop.
At the restart, the two Stewart/Haas teammates wanted to settle the duel for the lead between themselves, but they did not count on Ross Chastain. The trackhouse driver intervened and immediately took the second position away from Harvick. Briscoe just managed to stay in front, but was under pressure.
But because Chastain was subsequently harassed and finally overtaken by Tyler Reddick, he had to refrain from a serious attack on the leader. Instead, Reddick settled in second position and prepared to make life difficult for Briscoe. But with nine laps to go, another yellow. In this case it was a spin by Chase Elliott.
Three-way battle for first Cup win: Briscoe ahead of Chastain and Reddick
At least in the leading group, there was no need for another pit stop. So Briscoe led the field to the final restart and had Reddick on the outside next to him. Three laps were still to go. For Briscoe, Reddick and also Chastain, who was lurking on the second row, it was all about the first Cup victory.
Briscoe got the restart perfectly and pulled away directly. Chastain passed Reddick, but it was not enough for him to catch Briscoe. In the end, Briscoe won by 0.7 seconds over Chastain, who held on to Reddick at the finish line by just 0.016 seconds.
Ryan Blaney, after pole and a long lead, ultimately finished “only” fourth. He had lost a few positions during the penultimate pit stop. Fifth was Kurt Busch (23XI-Toyota), followed by Phoenix specialist Kevin Harvick.
Harvick finished in the top 10 for the 18th time in a row(!) at Phoenix with P6. He thus set a NASCAR record previously held by seven-time champions Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt (18 consecutive top 10s each at North Wilkesboro).
Rounding out the top 10 in Phoenix were Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez (Trackhouse Chevrolet) and Chris Buescher (RFK-Ford). Meanwhile, Stewart/Haas driver Aric Almirola just missed the top 10 for the first time this season with P12 behind Chase Elliott.
And Kyle Larson? The defending champion, who started from the back of the field, quickly moved up into the top 10, even drove in the top five for a while, but retired in the final race segment with an engine failure. “Unfortunately, a valve spring broke,” said Larson.
Next stop: New Atlanta oval
The race continues next Sunday at the recently extensively rebuilt Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is still a 1.5-mile oval. But because the banking in the corners has been increased to up to 28 degrees, the 670-hp engine package will not be used next weekend. Instead, the 510 hp package will be used, as it was previously intended exclusively for superspeedways.
