Chase Briscoe during the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway en route to a second-place finish. (Photo: Aaron Brink | The Podium Finish)
SONOMA, Calif. — Chase Briscoe finished second in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway in what turned out to be one of the best performances of his five-year NASCAR Cup Series tenure on a road course thus far.
Despite Shane van Gisbergen putting on a dominant performance, leading 97 of the 110 laps en route to his third victory of the season, Briscoe was probably “the best of the rest” today. Along with finishing second, Briscoe scored the second-most points of the day with 44 and managed to stay competitive with van Gisbergen during the final restarts, but he didn’t have enough to secure the win.
“I wish I had more, that’s all I got,” said Briscoe. “I learned that he (van Gisbergen) could still go a lot faster if he wanted to. There was one time I felt like I made a push and got within, I don’t know, four or five car lengths, and he just drove right back away another five car lengths. So, he had more in the tank anytime he wanted to.”
Chase Briscoe (No. 19) battling Shane van Gisbergen (No. 88) exiting Turn 2 at Sonoma Raceway. (Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)
Everyone in the NASCAR Cup Series garage knows that van Gisbergen is the driver to beat on road courses, having won three consecutive road course events. As a result, Briscoe and his No. 19 team can take pride in their second-place finish.
“He’s an incredible race car driver, so I’m honestly proud of running second to that guy,” he said. I ever played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that is very similar to what it would be like. It’s just a lot of fun and proud to have run second to him.”
As the postseason looms close, Briscoe thinks that he and his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 team have begun to hit their stride. After just an ok start to his first season with the organization after driving for Stewart-Haas Racing the past four seasons, he feels that he has the equipment to win week in and week out for the first time at this level in his career.
“I’m just super proud of this (No.) 19 team,” Briscoe said. “It took us a little bit at the beginning of the year to kind of find our stride, but I feel like we’re honestly as strong as any team in the field right now as far as just overall balance. Whether it’s a short track or road course, or intermediate, I feel like we can go any single weekend and battle for the win. And it reminds me a lot, honestly, of when I was in Xfinity (Series), and I haven’t had that ever in the Cup Series, so it’s a lot of fun.”
Chase Briscoe post-race after scoring a second-place finish in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. (Photo: Aaron Brink | The Podium Finish)
Thus far through 20 races, he has already set a new career high with seven top fives and is just one off his career top 10 mark, which he set in 2022. Even since winning a few weeks ago at Pocono Raceway, he feels his team is still being overlooked a bit, which is something Briscoe plans on changing as the season continues.
“I feel like I get overlooked a lot of the time,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to earn the respect of a lot of guys, not even all the drivers, but I think just everybody. I always felt like I was capable of doing it, and the (No.) 19 car finally lets me show what I feel like I’m capable of. It’s just so fun to drive fast race cars.”
The next race he’ll get that chance is next Sunday, July 2,0, at Dover Motor Speedway for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at 2:00 p.m. EST on TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max. Radio coverage of the event will be on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
