Chase Briscoe earns 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year award
AVONDALE, ARIZ. – Chase Briscoe clinched the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year award Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.
Briscoe bested Alfredo by a wide margin of 303 points, with a 23rd-place finish in points to Alfredo’s 30th-place finish.
Briscoe became the fourth driver to earn Rookie of the Year honors in all three of NASCAR’s top three national series – after Austin Dillon, Erik Jones and William Byron.
“That is really cool to accomplish,” Briscoe recalled on the statistic. “It is a nice thing to achieve by the end of the year. You kind of start the season hoping that you win it and then to be able to lock it up is nice.”
Before blowing a left-rear tire and wrecking in Turn 3 on Lap 156, Briscoe ran inside the Top 15 throughout the first half of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway.
“For me, we were competitive in a couple of races and battling for a few wins and top-fives. I think we have proved that whenever we get the car driving right and have the speed we are fully capable of running up front with those guys,” Briscoe said. “I wouldn’t say the season was a thumbs up or a thumbs down, I would say somewhere in the middle. There is still a lot that I have to do way better.”
Briscoe finished 35th and Alfredo finished 34th. Alfredo also scored a DNF after hitting the outside wall hard in Turn 2 on Lap 249.
Briscoe’s best finish was sixth at Circuit of the Americas and Road America. Alfredo’s best finish was 10th at Talladega in October.
Briscoe will return to the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in 2021 while Alfredo’s plans are unknown.
SOURCES:
Ford Performance
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com