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