Chase Briscoe finished 16th in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 250 Saturday at Richmond Raceway, marking just the fifth time this season he has finished outside the top-15 in a NASCAR Xfinity Series race. Briscoe showed strength early in the 250-lap race around the .75-mile oval, leading 13 laps before handling issues on his No. 98 Go Bowling Ford Mustang dropped him down the leaderboard. He fell outside the top-10 just before the completion of the first stage, but rallied to finish fourth at the end of the second stage after a strategic call to pit for four tires and fuel during a caution on lap 142. Those fresh tires allowed Briscoe to drive up to fourth in the five laps of green-flag racing before the second stage’s conclusion. But when the green flag waved on lap 157, those who had pitted during the stage break had fresher tires than Briscoe, and the Go Bowling driver steadily faded. This was exacerbated by a 73-lap, green-flag run, which dropped Briscoe off the lead lap and to his eventual 16th-place finish. It was only the eighth time this season Briscoe has not scored top-10. Briscoe still leads the Xfinity Series with six victories and he remains second in the championship standings.
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 98 Go Bowling Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing: “I knew coming in that Richmond was one of the tracks I really needed to work on and that it would probably be a struggle since we didn’t have any practice. It was a tough weekend for our Go Bowling team and we’re better than these two races. We’ve already shown that this year. We’ve got work to do, but I’m looking froward to getting to Bristol next week and some tracks that I’m more comfortable with.”
Notes:● Briscoe finished fourth in Stage 2 to earn seven bonus points.● Justin Allgaier won the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 250 to score his 14th career Xfinity Series victory, his third of the season and his second at Richmond. His margin of victory over second-place Jeb Burton was 2.185 seconds.● There were five caution periods for a total of 29 laps.● Only 14 of the 36 drivers in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 250 finished on the lead lap.● Austin Cindric clinched the regular-season championship with an insurmountable 71-point advantage over second-place Briscoe.
Next Up: The next event on the Xfinity Series schedule is the Food City 300 on Friday, Sept. 18 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race starts at 7 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TSC PR
