Briscoe Chases Victory at Phoenix

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AVONDALE, AZ – RIS – Chase Briscoe won his first NASCAR Cup race on Sunday by taking the final restart and going out to a lead that could not be caught in winning for the first time at Phoenix Raceway.  Briscoe shot out of a cannon on the restart with less than five laps to go in the Ruoff Mortgage 500 and kept the rest of the field in his rear-view

"It's unbelievable. I was crying the whole last lap," Briscoe said during his post-race interview. "This is definitely a team win. I gotta thank everybody that's gotten me to this point. Seven years ago, I was sleeping on couches, volunteering at race shops and was literally driving home to give up. ... [It's] definitely special, and one that's gonna be remembered forever."

In fact, Briscoe had two great restarts over the final 20 laps to pull away from Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick.  He turned a rough start to the 2022 season into a glorious beginning for his career as a NASCAR Cup car.

Chastain and Reddick — both driving Chevrolets — made things interesting but Briscoe’s Ford was simply too strong. On the final restart with four laps left, the 27-year-old Briscoe started on the inside, dipped low on the dogleg apron, and was able to hold off the rest of the field.

In the final laps, it was Chastain and Reddick — both driving Chevrolets —that made things interesting, but Briscoe’s Ford was simply too strong. On the final restart with four laps left, the 27-year-old Briscoe started on the inside, dipped low on the dogleg apron, and was able to hold off the rest of the field.

Ryan Blaney started on the pole and dominated the first half of the race, winning the second stage after leading 138 of the first 185 laps. He settled for fourth. After his best showing of the year, Briscoe’s teammate Kevin Harvick finished sixth.

“It was a good day for us, said Harvick..”{Restarts weren’t 100% our strong point. We had a bit of a brake shake issue that kept pulling the car to the right under braking so I couldn’t get into corners like I wanted to. Still a good day and the car ran good. I just couldn’t really connect all the corners altogether through the day. Putting a SHR car in victory lane and running inside the top-five all day for us is always a good day.”

Harvick has won nine times in Phoenix — couldn’t find victory lane Sunday. But he did finish in sixth place, which was his 18th straight top 10 at the track. That tied Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most top 10s in a row at one track.

Kyle Larson won the series championship last year after a fall victory at Phoenix, but engine trouble ended his day early. He finished 34th. It was the end of a frustrating day for Larson, who qualified seventh but had to move to the rear of the starting grid because of unapproved steering wheel changes

Briscoe showed the form we saw in 2020 when he won ten times in the Xfinity Series for SHR and his hero, Tony Stewart.

Earlier in the race, It was a charging Ryan Blaney who seemed to be the fastest car, but a slow pit stop put him out of the lead.  Chase Elliott also led at times, but in the end, Briscoe prevailed.  The top three finishers had never won a Cup race.

The next Cup Series race will be newly paved Atlanta Motor Speedway.  The new high bans will give no one an advantage with the higher banks.  Sunday, March 20th will be the first time the Cup drivers have raced on the new surface.

Unofficial Results: 18th Annual Ruoff Mortgage 500, Phoenix Raceway - Sunday, March 13, 2022

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 6, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford, 312, 2, 8, 3, 101, 5, 52, Running
2) 17, Ross Chastain, No. 1 K1 Speed Chevrolet, 312, , 7, , , , 39, Running
3) 12, Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet, 312, 4, 6, , , , 46, Running
4) 1, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Maytag Ford, 312, , 1, 5, 143, 1, 43, Running
5) 15, Kurt Busch, No. 45 MoneyLion Toyota, 312, , , , , , 32, Running
6) 16, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford, 312, 8, 3, , , , 42, Running
7) 11, Kyle Busch, No. 18 DeWalt Toyota, 312, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 10, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 312, 9, 10, 1, 4, , 32, Running
9) 23, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet, 312, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 26, Chris Buescher, No. 17 ITsavvy Ford, 312, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 19, Chase Elliott, No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet, 312, 3, 2, 3, 50, , 43, Running
12) 5, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 312, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 2, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, 312, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 9, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally/Best Friends Chevrolet, 312, 5, , , , , 29, Running
15) 21, Ty Dillon, No. 42 Black Rifle Coffee Company Chevrolet, 312, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 25, Cole Custer, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 312, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 28, Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 312, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 3, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 312, 1, 4, 1, 12, 1, 36, Running
19) 33, Todd Gilliland #, No. 38 Frontline Enterprises Inc. Ford, 312, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 29, AJ Allmendinger(i), No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet, 312, , , , , , 0, Running
21) 13, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet, 311, 10, 9, , , , 19, Accident
22) 27, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 ROOT Insurance Toyota, 311, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 18, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Violet Defense Ford, 311, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 8, Austin Cindric #, No. 2 Autotrader Ford, 311, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 14, Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevrolet, 311, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 4, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem - Capitol Container Toyota, 310, 6, , , , , 16, Running
27) 22, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 310, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 36, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Fry's/NOS Chevrolet, 310, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 24, Harrison Burton #, No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford, 309, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 31, Landon Cassill(i), No. 77 Voyager: Crypto for All Chevrolet, 308, , , , , , 0, Running
31) 32, Cody Ware, No. 51 Nurtec ODT Ford, 307, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 35, Garrett Smithley, No. 15 Jacob Companies Ford, 305, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 34, BJ McLeod, No. 78 Premier Business Investments Ford, 304, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 7, Kyle Larson, No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet, 239, 7, 5, 2, 2, , 13, Engine
35) 20, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 219, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 30, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Built.com Chevrolet, 45, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series. (#) Rookie

Time: 3 Hrs, 6 Mins, 34 Secs.
Race Length: 312 Laps, 312. Miles
Average Speed: 100.339 MPH
Margin of Victory: .771 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 24, 14, 9, 8, 48, 20, 5, 4, 22, 3
Stage 2 Top 10: 12, 9, 4, 24, 5, 8, 1, 14, 3, 22

Comments: Chase Briscoe won the 18th running of the Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway, his first victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: Nos. 5, 21 (unapproved adjustments), 47 (engine change).

Cautions: 8 for 52 laps;
Laps: 27-31 (Competition Caution [51]);
47-52 (Debris from No. 7 [15]);
62-69 (Stage 1 Conclusion [78]);
120-125 (No. 20 Spin Backstretch [6]);
187-194 (Stage 2 Conclusion [42]);
222-229 (No. 19 Incident Basckstretch [31]);
287-292 (No. 43 Incident Backstretch [31]);
305-309 (No. 9 Spin Backstretch [16]).

Lead Changes: 14 among 6 drivers;
R. Blaney 1-27;
K. Larson 28;
J. Logano 29-32;
C. Briscoe 33-51;
W. Byron 52-63;
K. Larson 64;
R. Blaney 65-121;
C. Elliott 122-132;
R. Blaney 133-189;
C. Elliott 190-224;
R. Blaney 225;
C. Elliott 226-229;
C. Briscoe 230-287;
R. Blaney 288;
C. Briscoe 289-312.