Chase Briscoe Holds Off the Field for an Overtime Xfinity Win at Homestead

Wilfredo Lee - USA TODAY

HOMESTEAD, FL – RIS – In a race that seems was destined to be Noah Gragson’s, Austin Cindric brought out the caution by spinning That means an overtime period because Gragson had not reached the white flag.  It happened again in the first overtime, and Chase Briscoe was up to the task and won the first half of a Sunday double-dip.  It was Briscoe’s third win of the season. Gragson saw a huge lead slip away in the final laps for the second consecutive day.

Briscoe was without crew chief Richard Boswell, car chief Nick Hutchins and engineer DJ Vanderley, all of whom began serving four-race suspensions for a safety violation that happened Saturday. So Briscoe -- a big Tony Stewart fan growing up -- got Stewart-Haas Racing competition director Greg Zipadelli to fill in as his crew chief and prevailed.

"It's just a testament to our team," Briscoe said.

Brandon Jones was second, Ross Chastain was third and A.J. Allmendinger was fourth. Gragson placed fifth, losing not only a race that was in his hands for the second straight day but also the $100,000 "Dash For Cash" bonus that wound up going to Allmendinger instead.

With 15 laps to go, it was basically down to a two-car race: Gragson was leading, about 2½ seconds ahead of Briscoe. Nobody else was within 10 seconds of the lead, a very similar scenario to Saturday when Gragson had a huge lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. going into the last laps before a caution tightened the field and gave Harrison Burton the chance to grab the win on the final lap.

With every lap, Briscoe chipped away. He got within 2 seconds. Then a second and a half. Then a second. But he brushed the wall with about three laps left, slowing his momentum -- or so it seemed.

"I just kept trying to run the fence harder and harder and harder," Briscoe said.

Cindric spun out and brought a late caution, derailing Gragson's momentum and setting up the first of two overtime finishes. Gragson never had control of the race again, and Briscoe wound up in victory lane.

"The team did an unbelievable job to set up the car," Gragson said. "We had the lead there at the end. ... I have to start working on myself. That's unacceptable by my standards. These guys, they work their tails off and it's not to run fifth. It's to win these races."

The heat was nearly 90 degrees at race time, and drivers and crew members were taxed all day.  What made it all the worst was it was the second consecutive day of racing in the Xfinity Series.

It was the first time that the series -- by any of its names since it was first formed in 1982 -- raced on consecutive days at the same track, the obviously odd occurrence happening this year because of all the rescheduling caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The back-to-back at one track is scheduled to occur again July 9 and 10 at Kentucky.

Back in 1982 and 1983, back-to-back races were held at tracks in North Wilkesboro NC, Hickory, NC, Richmond, VA, and Rockingham, NC.


Unofficial Results, Contender Boats 250, Homestead-Miami Speedway

Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 9, Chase Briscoe, No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School Ford, 177, , 4, 5, 11, 5, 47, Running
2) 8, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Menards/Fisher Toyota, 177, 4, 3, 3, 5, , 50, Running
3) 7, Ross Chastain, No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet, 177, , , 2, 11, , 34, Running
4) 38, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet, 177, , 10, , , , 34, Running
5) 13, Noah Gragson, No. 9 PUBG MOBILE Chevrolet, 177, 6, 1, 4, 81, 1, 47, Running
6) 3, Justin Haley, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 177, , , , , , 31, Running
7) 1, Myatt Snider, No. 93 Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet, 177, , , 1, 1, , 30, Running
8) 15, Harrison Burton #, No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota, 177, 7, 6, , , , 38, Running
9) 6, Riley Herbst #, No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota, 177, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 14, Austin Cindric, No. 22 PPG Ford, 176, 3, 2, 4, 60, , 44, Running
11) 12, Anthony Alfredo, No. 21 iRacing Chevrolet, 176, , 9, , , , 28, Running
12) 20, Josh Williams, No. 92 Starbrite/Star Tron Chevrolet, 176, , , 1, 1, , 25, Running
13) 16, Joe Graf Jr #, No. 08 Bucked Up Energy Chevrolet, 176, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 21, Colin Garrett, No. 26 Rosie Network/R4H Toyota, 176, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 18, Jesse Little #, No. 4 Series Seating/KSDT Chevrolet, 176, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 19, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 0 EcoVirux Chevrolet, 176, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 17, Colby Howard, No. 15 SANY America Chevrolet, 176, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 10, Michael Annett, No. 1 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 176, 2, 8, , , , 31, Running
19) 28, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 CMRRoofing.com Chevrolet, 175, 1, , 1, 7, 1, 28, Running
20) 31, Tommy Joe Martins, No. 44 Gilreath Farms Red Angus Chevrolet, 175, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 30, Chad Finchum, No. 13 CrashClaimsR.us Toyota, 175, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 32, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 BRANDT "Thank You Farmers" Chevrolet, 174, 5, 7, , , , 25, Running
23) 25, Alex Labbe, No. 36 Globocam/Rousseau Chevrolet, 174, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 27, Matt Mills, No. 5 J.F. Electric Chevrolet, 174, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 23, Timmy Hill(i), No. 61 RoofClaim.com Toyota, 174, 9, , , , , 0, Running
26) 24, Bayley Currey(i), No. 74 Mutt and Jeff Porkskins Chevrolet, 173, 10, , , , , 0, Running
27) 4, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 Fly and Form Structures Chevrolet, 173, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 5, Carson Ware, No. 07 Chevrolet, 173, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 34, Vinnie Miller, No. 78 Koolbox Chevrolet, 173, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 29, Caesar Bacarella, No. 90 Alpha Prime/Maxim Chevrolet, 171, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 11, Daniel Hemric, No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet, 170, 8, 5, , , , 15, Accident
32) 22, Stefan Parsons, No. 99 RACINGJOBS.COM Toyota, 151, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 37, Kody Vanderwal #, No. 52 ADVANCED DAIRY SERVICE Chevrolet, 138, , , , , , 4, Power
34) 26, BJ McLeod, No. 6 KSDT CPA Chevrolet, 117, , , , , , 3, Clutch
35) 33, Kyle Weatherman, No. 47 Back The Blue Chevrolet, 84, , , , , , 2, Fire
36) 2, Brandon Brown, No. 68 bmsraceteam.com Chevrolet, 49, , , , , , 1, Overheating
37) 35, Ja Junior Avila, No. 02 Robert B. Our Co. Inc Chevrolet, 15, , , , , , 1, Electrical
38) 36, Stephen Leicht, No. 66 CrashClaimsR.us Toyota, 9, , , , , , 1, Handling
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 177 laps, 265.5 miles

Time of Race: 2 hr, 15 min, 52 sec
Average Speed: 117.247 mph
Margin of Victory: 0.072 sec

Stage 1 Top 10: 39, 1, 22, 19, 7, 9, 20, 8, 61, 74

Stage 2 Top 10: 9, 22, 19, 98, 8, 20, 7, 1, 21, 16

Race Comments: Chase Briscoe won the Contender Boats 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, his fifth victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: No. 8, 07 (Driver change), No. 02 (Back-up car, Driver change), No. 7, 52 (Back-up car), No. 9 (Unapproved adjustment).

Caution Flags: 6 for 28 laps;
Laps: 22-24 (Competition Caution [90]);
34-36 (No. 90, 44 Incident Backstretch [07]);
42-47 (Stage 1 Conclusion [44]);
82-89 (Stage 2 Conclusion [5]);
167-170 (No. 22 Incident Turn 4 [16]);
172-175 (No. 8, 18, 1, 16 Incident Backstretch [20]).

Lead Changes: 20 among 8 drivers;
M. Snider 1;
R. Chastain 2-8;
C. Briscoe 9-10;
A. Cindric 11-36;
R. Sieg 37-43;
R. Chastain 44-47;
B. Jones 48-50;
A. Cindric 51-67;
N. Gragson 68-92;
A. Cindric 93-105;
N. Gragson 106-122;
C. Briscoe 123;
B. Jones 124;
J. Williams 125;
A. Cindric 126-129;
N. Gragson 130-167;
C. Briscoe 168-169;
N. Gragson 170;
C. Briscoe 171-174;
B. Jones 175;
C. Briscoe 176-177.

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Chase Briscoe, No. 98

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Harrison Burton, No. 20

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2020, Issue 6, Posted 4:27 PM, 06.14.2020