Woes continue for Briscoe, Blaney at Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS – Although Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney have had speed since finishing in the top 5 during the Daytona 500, neither driver has had any luck.
The misfortunes continued in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as Blaney and Briscoe each scored a DNF as the second and third drivers to fall out of the race.
Blaney fell out of the race after a wreck in turn four with former teammate Brad Keselowski. Keselowski spun exiting turn four and Blaney hit the driver side of his car in the smoke.
“I’m not happy about anything and I don’t mean to be happy about anything when someone loses it right in front of you and ends our day,” Blaney said. “I won’t call it bad luck, but when someone just spins out in front of you and wipes you out, there’s nothing to be happy about. We had a pretty fast car and nothing to show for it.”
Blaney led 10 laps and finished 7th in Stage 1, earning four stage points. Blaney also earned 11 stage points Feb. 27 at Auto Club Speedway.
Briscoe wrecked into Daniel Suarez exiting turn four on Lap 94. The wreck knocked the toe out on his car and put him farther back, which set up a Lap 136 incident where he spun and hit the wall.
Briscoe went to the garage afterward and fell out of the race.
“I would say the last 5-10 laps before I finally spun out, the rear was bouncing really really bad and I think it broke something or the tire went down. I don’t know. I just went in the corner and the thing spun out,” Briscoe said. “It’s just really unfortunate. I thought we were gonna be really really good. We’ve had good speed all year long, so we’ll just try to dig out of a hole next week.”
Briscoe did not lead any laps but finished 8th in Stage 1, earning three stage points. Briscoe also earned 7 stage points at Auto Club.
Blaney and Briscoe each sit in a playoff spot after three NASCAR Cup Series races, in 13th and 14th respectively.
Blaney holds a playoff spot by 6 points and Briscoe holds a spot by 5 points, as the series goes to Phoenix Raceway March 13 (3:30 p.m. ET; TV: FOX, Radio: MRN/Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
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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