Chase Briscoe brings Stewart-Haas Racing its first victory of 2022 at Phoenix (Photo: Logan Riely |Getty Images).
For the 200th time in the 74-year history of the NASCAR Cup Series, a new winner visited victory lane.
That man was Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe who had the race of his career in Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
The 27-year-old Indiana racer held off an aggressive Ross Chastain in the final three laps to become the 38th driver to win in all three NASCAR national touring divisions (Cup, Xfinity and Trucks).
Emotions ran wild for the series sophomore, saying he was crying the whole entire final lap before shouting “Let’s Go Boys” over the radio. Briscoe’s victory was all in large part of his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors crew executing stout pit stops all afternoon.
“This is definitely a team win. I got to thank everyone that has gotten me to this point. Seven years ago, I was sleeping on couching, ready to give up. They gave me an opportunity and it’s led to this,” said Briscoe after the race.
“I am 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.”
For the second straight race, Chastain brought a top-five finish for Trackhouse Racing . He described his runner-up finish like being at a K1 track, fittingly the sponsor of his No. 1 Chevrolet.
“That was so much fun to get to race like that at this level. Trackhouse Racing believes in me. Advent Health. These people, they believed in me early in the season whenever stuff wasn’t going great. If we can keep putting these together, that’s so cool to race with Tyler and Chase,” said Chastain.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s everything I’ve ever wanted. My crew chief, people don’t know how good he is. His adjustments this year have been so incredible. He gave me exactly what I needed. We came up one spot short. But I’m so happy.”
Tyler Reddick was finally able to put a strong outing that matched his pace with a third-place result. Reddick felt he had a good launch on the final restart but made one vital error.
“I know about how deep I could drive it in turn one all day. I thought I got pretty good heat in the tires. I still overstepped it,” said Reddick. “I couldn’t have drove it any deeper than I did. I still thought I was going to get him in the fence. Chase was able to drive it off in there, clear, high, take the lead.
“It was a lot of fun. Great to claw back from the hiccup we had earlier in the race. Everyone on this team did a really good job all day. One little miscue that took us from second to 12th. My pit crew did an amazing job, had a good restart at the end to put ourselves in position.
“It was a fun day. Nice way to recover from a mistake that late in the race, be battling for the win. Great day. We’ll see what else we can learn from this and see what lies ahead.”
The 36-car field await the storm that was the Ruoff Mortgage 500 (Photo: Sean Gardner | Getty Images).
Ryan Blaney led the entire opening 25-lap green flag stint before the competition caution came out. All drivers pitted with Blaney exiting out in first, but would be one of four drivers (Denny Hamlin, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.) slapped in the wrist.
That’s because Blaney sped on pit road, relegating him to the rear of the field. He finished the opening stage in 14th.
This gave Blaney’s Penske teammate Joey Logano the race lead, but it was short lived as Briscoe took control of the race up to that point. That would go away on Lap 47 when Corey LaJoie crashed in Turn 1 where his right front tire came off. Cody Ware ran over the carcass and single lug nut hub, but continued his afternoon unlike LaJoie, who finished 36th.
Once the race resumed with eight laps remaining, it was William Byron’s turn to be at the front after making quick business of Briscoe. That would ultimately give the Hendrick Motorsports driver the Stage 1 win over the Stewart-Haas Racing sophomore.
Chase Elliott exited out ahead of Byron during pit stops. However, drivers stayed out including Blaney and Kyle Busch, who were in the front row to kick off Stage 2. Blaney regained control of the contest despite having 15-lap older tires than most competitors.
Christopher Bell lost control in Turn 3, bringing out the fourth caution. He limped his No. 20 Rheem Toyota into pit road with a flat right rear tire. After pit stops, it was Elliott’s true turn of leading the race. On Lap 133, Blaney hunted down Elliott and regained the lead entering Turn 4.
From there, Kevin Harvick began popping up in the picture. The nine-time Phoenix winner gained ground on Elliott as he hoped to equal Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty (both at North Wilkesboro) with the most consecutive top-10 finishes at a single track with 18. Harvick ultimately accomplished such feat with a sixth-place finish.
Before doing so, Harvick couldn’t catch Elliott and ended up third in the stage. Air pressure being taken off the No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford certainly didn’t do him any wonders, henceforth the struggle and just beating Byron at the line.
In the closing laps, Elliott made most of Blaney’s Turn 2 struggles as evident with him getting loose trying to lap Bell.
While Elliott cut the gap down, it was still Blaney who took the stage win. During pit stops, it was Elliott’s crew who got the job done yet again and was out front. Blaney on the other hand, lost three positions.
As soon as Stage 3 began, an apparent challenger arrived – Tyler Reddick. The third-year racer fought hard to get by Elliott for the top spot but the 2020 champion held onto first.
Then on Lap 221, defending spring winner Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota darted right and slammed the Turn 3 wall. Truex reported he had a tire go down, causing the costly accident which ended his afternoon.
“We had been getting really loose all day on the longer runs,” Truex after finishing 35th. “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 two 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.”
Not the afternoon Martin Truex, Jr. had hoped at Phoenix (Photo: Logan Riely | Getty Images).
Meanwhile, Elliott’s crew once again delivered and kept him in first while Reddick lost several positions and restarted in 11th.
The same could be said for Blaney, whose crew had a pit gun problem on the right rear. This relegated him to ninth.
Two spots ahead of him was Kyle Larson who had a quiet afternoon. But with him being 10 laps to the good of making it to the end, it was game on.
One man who took the “game on” phrase in effect was Briscoe, who retook the lead. Thanks to his pit crew, Briscoe had gained four spots after pit stops, allowing him to position himself for top honors.
Larson, on the other hand, experienced engine problems which plagued the No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet. With 74 to go, he brought the waning-powered car onto pit road, ending any shot of going back-to-back at Phoenix. The diagnosis was a broken valve from the defending champion, and it was game over.
For four to five laps, Larson felt something was amiss but wasn’t sure what led to his exit.
“It was just getting worse. Hate that,” said Larson. “Our Valvoline Chevy was pretty good, I thought that we were a fourth or fifth place car. Just was just hoping to be a little better than that. I know they’ll address the issue that seems like we have had the last couple of weeks with some of the engines.
“We’ll come back strong and reliable. The good thing is we have fast cars, fast engines and great drivers driving these Chevys, so we’ll get some more wins here.”
Briscoe held onto the lead but again faced pressure by Elliott as the race came down to its final 50 laps. A wreck with 27 to go slowed down the action following a Turn 3 spin by Erik Jones.
Fresh tires were vital as the leaders made their final stop. Any mistake would tarnish any opportunity of going to Ruoff Mortgage Victory Lane. Elliott’s crew exited out in sixth after a slow stop, down four spots while Briscoe held onto P1.
The madness continued once the race restarted with 20 to go as Briscoe had Harvick restart alongside. Ross Chastain went low for the lead but nearly tangled with Briscoe. They showed no mercy as both were determined to become the 200th different Cup winner.
Due to their close battle, Reddick joined the fray, and he too was looking for his maiden win. Briscoe cleared the chaos and began pulling away from Chastain and Reddick. He had it in the bag until Elliott lost control in Turn 3 with the number of laps remaining matching his car number.
Game of strategy ensued as the leaders stayed out. The first to come into pit road for fresh tires was Chris Buescher, who was running in 14th at that point.
Everything was on the line with three laps remaining as Briscoe chose the bottom while Reddick took the top lane. Briscoe cleared Reddick to hold onto the top spot and brought SHR its first win since Aric Almirola at Loudon last July.
That first win feeling for Chase Briscoe (Photo: Sean Gardner | Getty Images).
As the leaders finished the race, Daniel Suarez had an episode with Austin Dillon, who was running in ninth. The result ended with Dillon being punted into the Turn 4 wall. Dillon got out of his car and ended up 21st.
As for Briscoe, the triumph moves up to fifth in the championship standings. Finally, due to his win, he became the fourth different former ARCA champion to win in the Cup Series and the first to do so since Buescher at Pocono in 2016.
Now, there’s four different races with four different winners, half of them being maiden Cup winners. Time will tell if we’ll see the trend continue in the much-anticipated Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Live coverage of the first Cup race under the re-banked and resurfaced superspeedway race begins Sunday, March 20 at 3:00 p.m. ET on FOX. Blaney is the defending spring winner.
Stage 1 Results: Byron, Briscoe, Elliott, Reddick, Bowman, Bell, Larson, Harvick, Logano, and A. Dillon
Stage 2 Results: Blaney, Elliott, Harvick, Byron, Larson, Reddick, Chastain, Briscoe, A. Dillon and Logano
Final Top 10 Results: Briscoe, Chastain, Reddick, Blaney, Ku. Busch, Harvick, Ky. Busch, Logano, Suarez, and Buescher
