Briscoe scores much-needed sixth at Road America

Chase Briscoe tied his career-best effort in the NASCAR Cup Series at Road America and did so as the best in the Ford class.

Briscoe finished sixth. A nearly smooth, clean day aside from being penalized for driving through too many pit stalls near the end of Stage 1.

“I thought we were good enough to run fourth there at the end, but my engine shut off,” Briscoe said. “It was really cool to run sixth and be the best Ford today. We definitely had a lot of adversity with not getting a qualifying lap in and then the penalty at the beginning.

“I felt like we had a really good car on the long run. I am proud of that. It was a good day overall. We needed that. We will go on to the next one and see if we can get better.”

It was a much-needed day. Briscoe’s rookie season has been challenging enough with rocky results, but Stewart-Haas Racing has also been off the pace they are accustomed to. By finishing sixth Sunday, Briscoe matched what he did at Circuit of the Americas in May, and it is only his second top-10 finish.

Briscoe came from the 35th position because he did not get to put down a fast lap in qualifying. As Briscoe was on track for his lap, the first round was red-flagged because of a stalled car, and with so little time left on the clock, Briscoe was one of a few drivers who didn’t get to show how fast his car was.

https://twitter.com/ChaseBriscoe_14/status/1411816496200884225

Sitting 10th on the leaderboard when the race restarted with 17 laps to go, Briscoe went to work. He was eighth with 10 laps to go and spent the final few laps battling around Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, and Tyler Reddick. Briscoe isn’t sure if he was running out of fuel that caused his car’s stumble at the end.

“I was right tucked up to the 11 car and about to make a move on him, and the engine just shut off,” he said. “I don't know if it got really hot when I was super close to him and spiked the temps or what. I feel like if it wasn’t for that, we probably would have ran fourth. Then I lost a ton of track position and had to deal with the 42.

“Overall, it was a fun day. This place is a lot of fun when you are slipping and sliding around like that. I wish we could have been top-five but to leave here with sixth is a good day.”