Chase Briscoe earns first Cup Series win at Phoenix
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Four races, four winners. Chase Briscoe is the latest driver to etch a win in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Briscoe led the final 24 laps in the Ruoff Mortgage 500 Sunday (March 13) at Phoenix Raceway to capture his first premier series NASCAR victory.
“The Cup Series is the pinnacle,” Briscoe said to The Racing Experts. “You dream of getting an opportunity to run in the Cup Series.”
Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick — who finished second and third respectively — will have to wait at least one more week to earn their first Cup Series win.
Chastain’s runner-up finish is the second of his career and his second straight Top-5.
“That was so much fun to get to race like that at this level,” Chastain said. “Trackhouse Racing believes in me and AdventHealth and The Moose, these people they believed in me early in the season when stuff wasn’t going great.
“That’s so cool to race with Tyler (Reddick) and Chase (Briscoe).”
Reddick has now earned two consecutive Top-10 finishes.
“It was a lot of fun,” Reddick said. “Great to claw back from the hiccup we had earlier in the race.”
Ryan Blaney and Kurt Busch rounded out the Top-5 finishers.
STAGE 1 (LAPS 1-60)
Pole sitter Ryan Blaney led the opening 27 laps.
Kyle Busch, who started 11th, was the first driver to utilize the 1-mile track’s dogleg on the front stretch on the opening lap, picking up several positions in the process.
The race stayed green through a NASCAR-mandated competition caution on lap 25. A speeding penalty during the caution period on pit road saw first and second places Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin drop to the rear when the race resumed racing on lap 29.
The stage saw a caution flag for Corey LaJoie hitting the outside retaining on lap 46. LaJoie would ultimately finish last (36th).
William Byron picked up the stage win with Chase Briscoe finishing second and Chase Elliott finishing third.
STAGE 2 (LAPS 61-185)
The race resumed green flag racing on lap with 35 cars on the lead lap.
A Christopher Bell single-car spin on the backstretch on lap 119 saw the Joe Gibbs Racing driver fall one lap down. Bell continued on with no visible damage from the spin.
Ryan Blaney took the stage win, followed by Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick.
STAGE 3 (LAPS 186-312)
The two Phoenix winners in 2021 failed to be running at the finish of the race.
March 2021 winner Martin Truex Jr. crashed in Turn 3 on lap 221, ending the 2017 champion’s raceday. He finished 35th. Kyle Larson suffered an engine issue, relegating the November winner to a 34th-place finish.
The lead swapped six times in the final stage between three drivers: Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott.
Briscoe led 82 of the final 83 laps, holding on to the lead after pit stops during a lap 286 caution for Erik Jones. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver proceeded to hang on to the lead after a Chase Elliott spin with eight laps to go in the race set the stage for a restart with three laps remaining.
Brisoce held off Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick to become the 200th winner in NASCAR Cup Series history.
OUTLOOK
The next race for the Cup Series is scheduled for next Sunday, March 20, at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
SOURCES
Racing-Reference.info
