SPORTS

Chase Briscoe, NASCAR Cup Series strolling to Martinsville for rare Saturday race

Jeff Bartlett
The Times-Mail

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Chase Briscoe hadn't had a lot of good days at Richmond Raceway heading into last weekend's NASCAR Cup Series Richmond 400, so it was a solid sign of his progress as a driver and his team's improvement that he salvaged an 11th-place finish out of an up-and-down day.

Mitchell's Chase Briscoe (14) leads SHR teammate Cole Custer during the season-opening short-track race in Los Angeles.

Now the 27-year Mitchell gas pedal masher hopes it translates to an even better day in Virginia at yet another short track Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400.

Rollercoaster ride at Richmond

Briscoe started fourth in the Richmond 400, but rapidly fell back and plummeted as far as 28th before constantly battling back. He pushed the No.14 Mahindra Tractors/SHR Racing Mustang back as high as the top five before settling for a solid 11th place on old tires. It's his best Cup Series finish in a short-track race.

“We obviously had a really good starting position, but in the beginning we fought a lot of balance issues and I think we fell all the way to 28th from fifth," Briscoe recalled. "It wasn’t looking the greatest, but we just continued to get our car better. That’s definitely the farthest off we’ve been all year and to still be able to finish 11th is a good day.

Chase Briscoe's No.14 Mahindra Tractors Mustang shows a bit of wear from short-track action in Los Angeles.

"We got lucky and got a quick caution and were able to get the lucky dog, and from there our car was actually driving pretty good and was able to drive up in the top-five at one point. We just tried the gamble strategy with the win already and it didn’t work out. 

"To finish 11th, we probably could’ve run a little bit better if our tires had held on a little bit more, but after being 28th at one point and a lap down with about 200 to go, we’ll definitely take it.” 

Keep pain low in Blue-Emu 400

Briscoe has had a bit better fortune at Martinsville than Richmond over the years, and he hopes the ailments stay away in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400, which is slated to start at 7:30 p.m., Saturday.

The race is 400 laps (80/100/220) for 210.4 miles over the .526-mile layout. It will be televised on FS1, and broadcast via radio by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Briscoe made 15 short-track starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, scoring two wins — September 2020 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and July 2019 at Iowa Speedway in Newton — and earning 10 top-10 finishes.

Mitchell's Chase Briscoe gathers his thoughts prior to the NASCAR Cup Series season opener in Los Angeles.

When the Xfinity Series made its return to Martinsville in the fall of 2020 after a 13-year hiatus, Briscoe finished seventh. He also made two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at Martinsville. His best result came in April 2017 when he started eighth and finished 11th. He returned in October to start on the pole and lead the first 39 laps before a late-race accident relegated him to a 19th-place finish.

The No.14 team has adapted nicely to the new NextGen car, but Briscoe anticipates old-fashioned short-track racing Sunday.

“I think we’ll see typical Martinsville — hard racing and a few guys mad at each other by the end of the race," he predicted. "In the past, brakes have come into play, guys using them up early in the race and having a hard time getting through the corners. And I think we’ll still see some issues where brakes are concerned but it might look a bit different than it has in the past.

Mitchell's Chase Briscoe dives into a turn during the season-opening Busch Light Clash. The NASCAR Cup Series is back on a short track Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

"The track we raced on for the Clash is probably the closest to Martinsville, just half the size, so a lot of what you saw with the longer straightaways and tighter corners, and how guys were setting up passes, is likely what we’ll see this weekend. At least, I hope that’s how it goes.

"We ran pretty well there so, hopefully, we can take what we did there and have it translate to Martinsville. It’s always a fun race, but a lot more fun if you’re up near the front and out of the trouble happening further back in the field.”

Seven races into the 2022 season, Briscoe is ninth in points, 49 out of first. He currently holds a spot in the 16-driver playoff field by virtue of his win March 13 at Phoenix Raceway. If he hopes to stay up there this weekend he has to figure out the map of short-track racing, while the team also has to hit the setup a bit better at the start.

Both factors hurt Briscoe early last week, but they seemed to get it by the finish.

“I’m definitely still trying to figure out short tracks," he said. "I didn’t grow up doing any kind of short-track pavement racing, unlike a lot of the guys I’m racing against. Our car was good, we showed that in practice and there at the end of the race, when we were running top-10, but I was still getting the hang of what I needed to do. I’m more comfortable at Martinsville after having more experience there in Trucks, but the short-track side of things is still something I’m working on and I feel good about what we’ve learned so far with this new car.”

Contact Times-Mail Sports Writer Jeff Bartlett at jeffb@tmnews.com, or on Twitter @jeffbtmnews.