Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-80):
● Chase Briscoe started 30th and finished 27th.
● The Ford Performance Racing School driver advanced to the 25th position prior to the competition caution on lap 27. Under yellow, he pitted for four tires, fuel and adjustments to help tighten up his No. 14 Mustang in the center of turns three and four. Then he lined up 28th for the lap-30 restart.
● Briscoe was running 26th when the second caution of the race occurred on lap 65. He radioed that he couldn’t hustle at the start of a run and was lacking grip. With less than 15 laps remaining in Stage 1, the No. 14 crew gave him four fresh tires and fuel.
● The race returned to green on lap 72 with Briscoe restarting 23rd. He quickly dropped to 30th but moved back to 27th before the end of the stage on lap 80.
● Crew chief Johnny Klausmeier elected to pit for four tires and fuel, but no adjustments were made to the Ford Performance Racing School Mustang after Briscoe said the track came to him on the previous run.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81-160):
● Briscoe started 23rd and finished 30th.
● On lap 91, Briscoe fell back to the 31st position and reported that he was “wrecking loose” following contact with the 23 that resulted in damage to his left-rear quarter panel.
● Briscoe made a scheduled green-flag pit stop on lap 126, getting four tires, fuel and adjustments. The No. 14 team also made repairs to the damaged quarter panel during the stop, but Briscoe returned to the track two laps down to the leaders.
● The yellow flag was shown for the fourth time on lap 155, and Briscoe remained on track to get back one lap. He restarted 30th on lap 159, one lap down, with just one lap remaining in the second stage.
● The No. 14 was the beneficiary of the stage-ending caution, allowing Briscoe to rejoin the lead-lap cars. He pitted under caution on lap 165 for four tires, fuel and additional repairs.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 161-267):
● Briscoe started 30th and finished 18th.
● The Ford Performance Racing School driver began the final stage in the 26th position and was 24th when caution came out on lap 201. Briscoe pitted for four tires and fuel on lap 202 and lined up 22nd for the restart.
● Briscoe entered the top-20 for the first time when the race resumed on lap 208 and advanced to 18th before the end of the race to earn his second top-20 finish in three Cup Series starts.
Notes:
● The Dixie Vodka 400 marked Briscoe’s third NASCAR Cup Series start.
● Briscoe was the highest finishing NASCAR Cup Series rookie.
● William Byron won the Dixie Vodka 400 to score his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory and his first at Homestead. His margin over second-place Tyler Reddick was 2.777 seconds.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 36 laps.
● Twenty-five of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Denny Hamlin remains the championship leader after Homestead with a 20-point advantage over second-place Harvick.
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“I felt like for all the things we went through, finishing 18th was good recovery from being two laps down. I’m still learning so much. It took me until halfway through the race to understand what I needed to do. I definitely got schooled on restarts in the beginning, and that’s everything in this deal. It’s going to take time and experience and learning the hard way, but I’ll continue to build on it. This was our first real race of the season in a sense, so we’ll go to Vegas and finally be able to start a little closer to the front. Hopefully that will pay dividends for our Ford Performance Racing School team.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Las Vegas 400 on Sunday, March 7, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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