Chase Briscoe held on in a three-lap shootout to claim his first NASCAR Cup Series win Sunday at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona.
For Briscoe, 27, to get the victory he had to hold off two other drivers who were also seeking their first Cup wins– Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick.
The three-lap run to the finish was setup by a Chase Elliott incident with nine laps to go as Briscoe led over Reddick and Chastain
The win comes in Briscoe’s 40th career Cup start. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver entered Sunday’s race having only earned one top-10 finish on an oval in his first 39 starts (2022 Daytona 500).
With the win, Briscoe is the 200th different driver to win a Cup race.
“That’s unbelievable,” Briscoe said on the fronstretch after the race. “I was crying the whole last lap. This is definitely a team win. I’ve got to thank everyone that’s gotten me to this point. Seven years ago I was sleeping on couches, volunteering at race shops and was literally driving home to give up. So blessed to be driving at the organization, the team, the car that was my hero growing up. To get this 14 back in Victory Lane, to do it with Mahindra Tractors, their first year in the sport, everybody that’s believed in me. It’s unbelievable.
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Briscoe was a presence up front most of the day. He led three times for 101 laps and finished second in stage one and eighth in stage two. Ryan Blaney led a race-high 143 laps. Through four races, the driver who led the most laps did not go to Victory Lane. This is the first time that’s happened since 2006.
Briscoe’s victory is just the third time a driver has earned their first NASCAR Cup win in a race at Phoenix. The others were Alan Kulwicki (1988) and Bobby Hamilton (1996).
The top five was completed by Ryan Blaney and Kurt Busch
Kevin Harvick finished sixth for his best result of the year. Harvick earned his 18th consecutive top-10 finish at Phoenix. That matches the record set by Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty at North Wilkesboro.
“It was a good day for us,” Harvick said. “Restarts weren’t 100% our strong point. We had a bit of a brake shake issue that kept pulling the car to the right under braking so I couldn’t get into corners like I wanted to. Still a good day and the car ran good. I just couldn’t really connect all the corners altogether through the day. Putting a SHR car in victory lane and running inside the top five all day for us is always a good day.”
Aric Almirola placed 12th, ending his streak of three races with a top-10 finish to start the year.
Blaney, the pole-sitter, led every lap until the Lap 25 competition caution.
Kyle Larson, who had to start from the rear for an unapproved adjustment, made it to 20th by the comp caution.
Blaney was first off pit road, but he Denny Hamlin, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were all penalized for speeding. Joey Logano assumed the lead.
On the restart, Briscoe got around Logano to take the lead.
The caution returned with 14 laps left in the stage when Corey LaJoie hit the outside wall on the frontstretch and his right front tire came off the car.
William Byron took the lead on the restart and led the final eight laps of the stage.
The top 10 after 60 laps and one stage: Byron, Briscoe, Elliott, Reddick, Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell, Larson, Harvick, Logano and Austin Dillon.
Elliott was the first off pit road, but Blaney, Kyle Busch and Cole Custer stayed out after having pit earlier.
Despite being on tires that were 15 laps older than the rest of the field, Blaney kept the lead over Elliott the next 57 laps.
The caution was put out on Lap 118 when Bell cut a tire and spun exiting Turn 2.
Under the caution, Elliott beat Blaney off pit road. Blaney returned to the lead on Lap 133. The Team Penske driver would keep the lead all the way to the end of the stage on Lap 185.
The top 10 after two stages: Blaney, Elliott, Harvick, Byron, Larson, Reddick, Chastain, Briscoe, Dillon and Logano.
A slow pit stop caused Blaney to leave the pits fourth behind Elliott, Harvick and Reddick. The race resumed on Lap 195 as Elliott held the lead.
The fourth natural caution occurred with 92 laps to go when Martin Truex Jr. cut his right-front tire as he exited Turn 2 and darted into the outside wall. Truex, the defending race winner, was eliminated.
“We had been getting really loose all day on the longer runs,” Truex said. “I was just out there trying to take care of it, and we gained a few spots on the restart and I was just trying to take care of the rear tires. Coming off of Turn 2 there, I’m kind of neutral free and then all of a sudden it shot straight into the fence. I cut a right front down running up there in the glue or something.”
In the pits, Blaney fell six spots to ninth after a problem putting on the right-rear tire. The race restarted with 83 laps to go as Briscoe, who was second off pit road, took the lead from Elliott.
With 73 laps to go Larson went to the pits and then the garage due to a broken valve spring in his engine. It is Larson’s second DNF in four races.
With 27 laps to go Erik Jones brought out the caution for a sin on the backstretch.
Under the caution, Briscoe was first off pit road over Harvick and Chastain while Elliott lost four spots to sixth.
When the race resumed with 20 laps to go, Chastain moved into third and Reddick took second on a wild restart, making the top-three cars driven by drivers who were seeing their first NASCAR Cup win.
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