Chase Briscoe felt the weight of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing as he raced through the final laps on Sunday night at Darlington Raceway, and he was thrilled.
“I feel like I run better under heavy pressure,” Briscoe said. “I love the Game 7, pressure-heavy moment.”
He made a bold, three-wide pass late in the race and managed to win the Southern 500, securing a spot in the playoffs. This victory gave Stewart-Haas Racing one last chance to add to its championship history before the team closes down after the season.
Briscoe and his team are heading into the postseason embracing the pressure, especially in the last days of a program that won NASCAR titles with Tony Stewart in 2011 and Kevin Harvick in 2014.
Briscoe received a call from Stewart, his team owner, and drivers came over to congratulate him on his win.
Briscoe took the lead with his three-wide move over Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain and then managed to outrun two-time series champion Kyle Busch at the end.
He pulled away on a final restart with 17 laps to go and held off Busch, who, like Briscoe, needed a win to reach the postseason.
“We just won the Southern 500!” an excited Briscoe said over the car radio.
Briscoe is ready for more achievements with Stewart-Haas Racing.
“Yeah, this group, the day we found out that the team wasn’t going to exist anymore, we went over to the shop board, looked at each other and said, ‘We’re in this to the end,’” Briscoe said. “I was saying all week, ‘We’ve got one bullet left in the chamber.’ That bullet hit.”
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. took the final two postseason spots based on points, while Bubba Wallace and Chastain, both within 27 points of the cutoff when the race began, fell short.
Briscoe’s impressive move spoiled Kyle Larson’s dominant run at Darlington, where Larson led 263 laps but struggled after being passed by Briscoe. Larson was also trying to overtake Tyler Reddick for the regular-season points title and the 15 bonus points that come with it but came up just a point short.
