Briscoe Drives Backup Car to Victory Lane at Dover

(DOVER, DE - AUG 23, 2020 - RIS) Early on race day, Chase Briscoe texted his wife that he would win the second Xfinity race at Dover and he went on to dominate, leading 102 of the 200 laps on his way to the point leader's sixth victory of the season, followed across the line by Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric. "As soon as we took the green I knew that I was going to be really good," said Briscoe following the race. "The car was way better than what it was yesterday and was really what I was looking for."

Brett Moffitt moved into the lead at the drop of the green flag, thanks to the inverted start for the top 15 finishers from Saturday's race. Chase Briscoe had to use a backup car and started at the back of the field but wasted no time in moving through the field. Caution one flew on lap ten when Vinnie Miller clipped Jeffrey Earnhardt, sending Miller's No. 78 Chevy hard into the wall and out of the race with the right side of the car smashed in. In the ten laps run, Briscoe has advanced to sixteenth at the yellow.

Moffitt chose outside for the restart with Haley on the inside with Cindric and Briscoe continuing their advance through the field, with Allgaier moving to seventh by the time of the competition yellow on lap 20.

Briscoe continued his march to the front with Cindric not contesting a pass as Justin Allgaier then Ross Chastain moved to the race lead and held on to take the stage 'win' and his first stage points of the 2020 season, followed by Allgaier, Moffitt, Riley Herbst, and Noah Gragson. Briscoe rose to sixth by stage end with Cindric passing Justin Haley for seventh on the last lap of the stage.

Stage two restart had Brandon Jones outside on fresh tires with Allgaier to his inside. Allgaier got a big advantage to take the lead with Ross Chastain falling into second and Briscoe third after starting the race last in a backup car. Winner and runner-up in the last seven races, Austin Cindric, held fourth, followed by Brandon Jones.

Jeffrey Earnhardt's slide into the outside wall caused the second wreck caution after Riley Herbst tapped him in the left-rear corner panel. Only light damage resulted from the contact and both cars continued. The restart had Allgaier outside and Chastain to his left with Briscoe and Cindric on the second row. Once again, Allgaier accelerated into the lead with Briscoe moving high to pass Chastain for second and the outside of Allgaier for a pass to the lead. This didn't last long as Briscoe quickly moved into the lead - last to lead in 71 laps, after starting last with a penalty for using a backup car after damage yesterday.

The crowded pit road led to slight contact between Brandon Jones and Daniel Hemric as Jones pulled away from his stall and tapped Hemric's car in passing, possibly creating a slight tire rub on Hemric's car. Allgaier's team earned a penalty of starting at the end of the longer line, thanks to a loose tire on the pit stop. Briscoe headed the field on the restart, with Cindric second briefly until Chastain passed him on the first lap of the stage.

Hemric's crew rolled the dice with an early pit stop in the final stage, gambling on speed from fresher tires causing nearly all the other teams to follow suit. Harrison Burton earned a pass-through penalty by hitting the commitment box painted on the entry to pit road then Stefan Parsons spun entering pit road, didn't hit anything and no caution required as nobody else was following him into the pits. Michael Annett was the final car to stop under green, with the top three of Briscoe, Chastain and Cindric cycling back to the front of the field with ten pals to run.

As the race's last laps wound down, a brief, light rain started being reported but the race finished under clearing skies and the green flag with Briscoe ahead of Chastain by just under two and a half seconds.

"That was cool - I told her today after yesterday I had to win," said Briscoe following the race, talking about texting his wife before the race.

Ford quotes: 
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 98 Highpoint.com Ford Mustang -- YOU WENT FROM LAST TO FIRST, DESCRIBE THAT DRIVE AS YOU RACED YOUR WAY THROUGH THE FIELD: "As soon as we took the green I knew that I was going to be really good. The car was way better than what it was yesterday and was really what I was looking for. We were able to finish sixth in the first stage from the back and I knew if we could get clean air I was going to be in really good shape. The long run, I felt like I was not the greatest but I think having clean air helped. I lost the race last year because I didn't come to pit road hard enough and I still obviously gave up a lot of time to Ross (Chastain). I have to get a lot better at that. That is my biggest weakness right now. I didn't want a caution because I had such a good lead but I also was wanting a caution so I didn't have to do a green flag pit stop. I am super happy to get HighPoint.com back in victory lane. It feels like it has been forever but it has only been a month and a half. Hopefully we can carry the momentum into the playoffs."

DESCRIBE THE RACING WITH ROSS (CHASTAIN): "He came off pit road and I felt like I was going 30 or 40 miles per hour quicker than him. He kind of guarded the top so I went low and then he just turned left and blocked me. I could have just wrecked him getting into three but I know he is trying to get their first win of the year and that is hard racing. He kind of blocked me so I kind of just packed air on him. If he is going to keep doing that to me I will just do it back. I race people like they race me and felt like he could have gave me the bottom getting in and still would have had a better situation packing air on the side of me. It was a crazy race there at the end and it was raining and everything else. I am glad we pulled it off."

IT HAS BEEN SIX RACES WITHOUT A WIN. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR YOU TO GET BACK IN VICTORY LANE TO GET THE PENDULUM POINTED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION? "I think it is huge. I don't think it is any secret that we have been frustrated amongst ourselves just not having the speed we had at the beginning of the year. The 22 has been really good and we are glad that Ford is winning but we want to be the leading candidate but they have really pulled away in the points standings. It is nice to get back in victory lane. This is when all the talks are going on for next year and after a day yesterday when you spin out and it isn't a good day to back it up today with the win is a big deal." 

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 22 PPG Ford Mustang -- Finished 3rd "We have been able to use these doubleheaders to try to learn from day to day and I think we did that. Probably a little bit backwards but I think we reeled in the PPG Ford Mustang at the end but just didn't have enough time. We got cut off there trying to get into the pit box. It wasn't meant to be. To come out with a top-3 is a solid day. I felt like I drove my butt off and the team made improvements from the day before with execution and that is all I can ask for some days."

TWO RACES IN TWO DAYS, HOW MUCH OF A TOLL HAS IT TAKEN ON YOU? "This track is probably one of the harder ones to do it at for sure. I definitely feel like I earned a sleep in tomorrow morning. But it is fun. I love this place. I would come back and race it tomorrow if I had the opportunity."

TOYOTA QUOTES

BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Menards/Pelonis Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing - Finishing Position: 4th
How was your run today? "I've never been here (with the struggle to pass) and I know it's tough to pass here but struggled to pass so much. We had a car in that third stage capable of leading some laps. I just would get to somebody and stall out or run right with them. Kind of weird and need to go study that. All in all, we brought a really good Supra for the day. Menards, Pelonis – everyone that helps out here is really amazing. We'll take a fourth from yesterday, how that went, and go to Daytona."

What challenges did your team face today and were you able to improve from yesterday with the balance of the car? "We kind of started the day not 100 percent like we wanted to. We were still just on the free side a little bit to fire off. That's how our day was all day yesterday as well. We made a bunch of changes overnight and still had the same balance or close to it anyway. It's kind of interesting there. That last stage and really all the way through the second stage as well, we found a lot of grip late in the run and that's when our Supra was really coming to life there. I think those were the two biggest things that we really caught up on today. We got our car a lot better just on that long run speed-wise. Really good and I thought I worked traffic today really well. I think that was one of our strong suits. Some guys would catch the lappers on exit and that would really stall them out bad. We did a good job of timing that. We passed a bunch of people that way too. You kind of had to get creative today to pass people, it was really difficult. Using those lapped cars to your advantage and timing those runs right were pretty key there at the end."

How do you transition from this doubleheader weekend at Dover and now head to the Daytona superspeedway event Friday night? "We don't go much more opposite than this – going from a track like Dover to a track like Daytona. We've always been pretty good at plate tracks. Getting a lot better at understanding the draft. Earlier this year, I made it a point to just really show that I'm going to pull out and try to make moves. That kind of paid off at the end of the race. If you continue to do that all day, people take note and I think that's kind of the key to getting up there and getting a pack going is all day, sometimes you have to sacrifice some positions to show that you're willing to make moves. As I race on these tracks, I start to figure out little things like that, which could possibly help."

RILEY HERBST, No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing - Finishing Position: 9th
Two top-10 finishes this weekend at Dover. How was your race today? "I thought we had a decent Monster Energy Supra. I don't think we were as good as yesterday balance-wise. We had to go to the back for an uncontrolled tire, so had some fun passing some race cars, but all-in-all, we just need a little more speed to contend for the win, but it was a good learning day."

Next up is Daytona, where you set on the Truck Series pole in the spring. What is your excitement level to get back to a superspeedway? "I wish the (qualifying) formula would have went off yesterday, not today's race. We could have been starting top-five maybe, but we will see where the formula puts us for the superspeedway. I think we will have a fast Supra, and we will go give them something in Daytona."

Unofficial Results: Drydene 200 - Dover International Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 6, Chase Briscoe, 98, Highpoint.com Ford, 200, 6, 1, 3, 107, 6, 55, Running
2) 13, Ross Chastain, 10, Moose Fraternity Chevrolet, 200, 1, 3, 2, 24, 1, 53, Running
3) 14, Austin Cindric, 22, PPG Ford, 200, 7, 4, 1, 1, , 45, Running
4) 16, Brandon Jones, 19, Menards/Pelonis Toyota, 200, , 7, 2, 8, , 37, Running
5) 9, Daniel Hemric, 8, Poppy Bank Chevrolet, 200, 9, 6, , , , 39, Running
6) 12, Noah Gragson, 9, Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber Camo Chevrolet, 200, 5, 5, 1, 11, , 43, Running
7) 15, Justin Allgaier, 7, FFA Chevrolet, 200, 2, 2, 1, 19, , 48, Running
8) 7, Michael Annett, 1, Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet, 199, , , 1, 5, , 29, Running
9) 10, Riley Herbst #, 18, Monster Energy Toyota, 199, 4, , , , , 35, Running
10) 1, Brett Moffitt(i), 02, Robert B Our Inc Chevrolet, 199, 3, 8, 2, 25, , 0, Running
11) 11, Harrison Burton #, 20, Fields/DEX Imaging Toyota, 199, , 9, , , , 28, Running
12) 8, Justin Haley, 11, LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 199, 8, 10, , , , 29, Running
13) 5, Anthony Alfredo, 21, ADS/Footing First Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 4, Ryan Sieg, 39, CMRRoofing.com Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 24, Tommy Joe Martins, 44, Gilreath Farms Red Angus Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 2, Brandon Brown, 68, Jabs Construction Chevrolet, 198, 10, , , , , 22, Running
17) 18, Alex Labbe, 90, Prolon/VRVictoriaVille.com Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 17, Myatt Snider #, 93, The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 3, Jeremy Clements, 51, RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 25, David Starr, 07, Jacob Construction Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 21, Joe Graf Jr #, 08, Bucked Up Energy Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 22, Josh Williams, 92, Musselman's Big Cup Applesauce Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 20, Jesse Little #, 4, Drydene Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 32, Chad Finchum, 13, GARRISON HOMES Toyota, 196, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 28, BJ McLeod, 6, Drydene Chevrolet, 196, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 31, Colby Howard, 15, Project Hope Foundation Chevrolet, 196, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 34, Kody Vanderwal #, 52, ADVANCED DAIRY SERVICES Chevrolet, 196, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 27, Stefan Parsons, 99, Rich Mar Florist Toyota, 196, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 19, Jeffrey Earnhardt, 0, Drydene Chevrolet, 195, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 35, Matt Mills, 5, JF Electric Chevrolet, 194, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 23, Stephen Leicht, 61, JANIKING Toyota, 192, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 30, Korbin Forrister(i), 36, Nursing Home Heroes Chevrolet, 167, , , , , , 0, Brakes
33) 33, Bayley Currey(i), 74, Chevrolet, 106, , , , , , 0, Engine
34) 36, Timmy Hill(i), 66, JANIKING Toyota, 59, , , , , , 0, Overheating
35) 26, Kyle Weatherman, 47, Thin Blue Line USA Chevrolet, 23, , , , , , 2, Suspension
36) 29, Vinnie Miller, 78, Glassskinz Chevrolet, 11, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 200 Laps, 200 miles

Time of Race: 1 hr, 47 min, 21 sec.
Average Speed: 111.784 mph
Margin of Victory: 2.463 sec

Stage 1 Top 10: 10, 7, 02, 18, 9, 98, 22, 11, 8, 68

Stage 2 Top 10: 98, 7, 10, 22, 9, 8, 19, 02, 20, 11

Comments: Chase Briscoe won the Drydene 200 at Dover International Speedway, his eighth victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reasons indicated: No. 98 (backup car);
No. 8 (driver change);
Nos. 90, 78, 0 (unapproved adjustments).

Caution Flags: 5 for 24 laps;
Laps: 12-15 (No. 0, 78 incident backstretch [None]);
22-24 (Competition [None]);
47-52 (Stage 1 Conclusion [52]);
65-69 (No. 0, 18 incident turn 2 [36]);
92-97 (Stage 2 Conclusion [13]).

Lead Changes: 12 among 8 drivers;
B. Moffitt(i) 1-24;
R. Chastain 25-47;
B. Moffitt(i) 48;
B. Jones 49-51;
J. Allgaier 52-70;
C. Briscoe 71-92;
A. Cindric 93;
C. Briscoe 94-165;
R. Chastain 166;
B. Jones 167-171;
N. Gragson 172-182;
M. Annett 183-187;
C. Briscoe 188-200.

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race:  Chase Briscoe, No. 98 
Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  Riley Herbst, No. 18