Chase Briscoe Wins, Advances to Championship 4

Chase Briscoe came into the Round of 8 in a deficit, being 14 points back entering Las Vegas. The 14 points cut into that gap immediately and got a solid 4th-place finish to get ahead of others that suffered bad luck and lack of execution.

At Talladega, opportunity persists but so does many things that are out of your control. You gotta manage the lanes well, avoid crashes and be there at the front when the pay window opens.

Briscoe pushed Bubba Wallace clear of the inside lane down the backstretch and with one swift move got around the 23 and vaulted to the lead with the help of Teammate Ty Gibbs.

Holding off the field through the final corner Briscoe now becomes the 2nd Joe Gibbs Racing driver to lock himself into the Championship 4. Denny Hamlin already did lock himself in with the win at Vegas.

The win being Briscoe’s first in 28 career Superspeedway starts came at the perfect time for the 19 in what can only be described as a “dream” season for Briscoe.

Hendrick Motorsports Struggles

Hendrick is known for bringing high horsepower and being able to use the numbers to their advantage but it seemed bad luck and lack of execution costed the chevy camp.

Elliott, who was already in a hole from a mistake made on pit road the week prior in Vegas, got caught up in an early crash that sunk his team’s chances before it even began.

Kyle Larson had control of the inside lane and looked to be headed for maybe not a win but a good top 5… until he ran out of gas down the backstreet relegating the 5 team with a 26th place finish.

Before the overtime started Cliff Daniels seemed confident in the 5 team’s calculations about having enough for the final 2 lap sprint but in the end the calculations were wrong.

William Byron and the 24 team came into the Round of 8 sort of being overlooked. Sure he was the Regular Season Champion but through the first two rounds the 24 team didn’t show elite, contending speed but the past two weeks have shown they took a notch up on their belts for a chance to advance to Phoenix.

But, both times Byron who was in contention in the final 35 laps at both Las Vegas and Talladega ended up in 36th and 25th place finishes respectively.

That puts him first car out but in a 36 point hole virtually meaning he has to win or run really well and hope others run into bad luck.

Penske Fumbles Chance

Nobody works better together than the blue Fords especially at Team Penske with Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney. Beginning in stage 3 that is what was happening as due to strategy the 22 and 12 both got upfront and were doing their job of controlling the field.

However, a Cody Ware spin messed up the timing and on the following restart Blaney lost the lead with Todd Gilliand and lost control of his line. Things move fast at Talladega and both Blaney and Logano went from top 5 to back in 24th and 25th within 5 laps.

Blaney himself couldn’t believe they lost control of the race but now he and Logano both are in dire must win situations similar to Elliott and Byron.

Penske has won all 3 Championships in the next gen era, but it all comes down to a final shot at Martinsville before the crowning moment at Phoenix.

Photo Credits; HardNASCARPics on 𝕏