Briscoe dominates at Vegas to win opening round of NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs

Chase Briscoe promised eight wins this season and Saturday he delivered with a dominating win in the Alsco 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to open the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

Briscoe led 164 of the 200 laps to win in the Xfinity Series for the second straight week. The triumph was also his second consecutive win at the 1.5-mile Nevada track, giving him an even 10 wins for his Xfinity career.

“An incredible car by everybody at Stewart-Haas,” Briscoe said. “That made my job way too easy, honestly. It was a super-fast Fields Ford Mustang, and I am happy to get them in victory lane. This is the only race they do all year. “

Noah Gragson finished second, with his JR Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet finishing 1.370 seconds behind Briscoe’s No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

“Good day for us overall. I felt like we were really good, the best I’ve ever been here,” Gragson said. “I just didn’t have anything for the 98 — a lot of race cars out here and only one space shuttle.”

Daniel Hemric was third, just ahead of Justin Allgaier in fourth and Ryan Sieg fifth. Hemric was one of only two non-Playoff drivers among the Top-10.

Austin Cindric, the regular season champion was running second before a final caution with 12 laps to go. Team Penske told him he should do the opposite strategy as Briscoe but let Cindric make the final decision. Cindric followed Briscoe down pit road for service but a slow stop cost him four positions.

Cindric finished sixth.

“Frustrated, man, I definitely don’t believe we deserved to finish where we did,” Cindric said.

Michael Annett, Anthony Alfredo (the other non-Playoff driver in the top 10), Harrison Burton and Justin Haley rounded out the top 10.

Briscoe started from the pole position and won the first two stages to add a pair of playoff points to his stockpile for the seven-race postseason. He then held off Gragson on a restart with just 10 laps to go to secure the win.

“The restart, I knew if I could take the lead on the restart I would be okay,” Briscoe said. “But I was spinning the tires so bad all night for whatever reason. I guess that Roush Yates horsepower.”

Ross Chastain led the next-most laps, putting his Kaulig Racing No. 10 Chevrolet out front for 15 laps. Chastain continued after a scrape of the Turn 4 retaining wall with two laps left in Stage 1 and finished 16th, last among the 12 playoff-eligible drivers.

The Xfinity Series’ next race is scheduled Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway. The Ag-Pro 300 is the second event in the Round of 12, the opening three-race elimination set.

Briscoe joins NASCAR legends Sam Ard and Jack Ingram as the only drivers to amass eight wins in the opening 27 races of an Xfinity Series season.

“It has been an unbelievable season and we still have a lot, six more wins that we can try to get and a championship,” Briscoe said. “That is what we are going to try to do. I am so happy to start the playoffs like this. After the last couple weeks we had, to go to Bristol and win and now here is a pretty good way to start our playoffs.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Results Alsco 300
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nevada
Saturday, September 26, 2020

1. (1)  Chase Briscoe (P), Ford, 200.

2. (6)  Noah Gragson (P), Chevrolet, 200.

3. (14)  Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 200.

4. (3)  Justin Allgaier (P), Chevrolet, 200.

5. (12)  Ryan Sieg (P), Chevrolet, 200.

6. (2)  Austin Cindric (P), Ford, 200.

7. (13)  Michael Annett (P), Chevrolet, 200.

8. (8)  Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 200.

9. (5)  Harrison Burton # (P), Toyota, 200.

10. (10)  Justin Haley (P), Chevrolet, 200.

11. (7)  Brandon Jones (P), Toyota, 200.

12. (9)  Riley Herbst # (P), Toyota, 200.

13. (15)  Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 200.

14. (20)  Brett Moffitt(i), Chevrolet, 200.

15. (11)  Brandon Brown (P), Chevrolet, 200.

16. (4)  Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 200.

17. (29)  Austin Hill(i), Toyota, 199.

18. (18)  Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 199.

19. (32)  Myatt Snider #, Chevrolet, 199.

20. (26)  Stefan Parsons, Toyota, 199.

21. (25)  Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 198.

22. (22)  Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 198.

23. (24)  Jesse Little #, Chevrolet, 198.

24. (17)  Gray Gaulding(i), Chevrolet, 197.

25. (31)  Bayley Currey(i), Chevrolet, 197.

26. (28)  BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 197.

27. (27)  Joe Graf Jr #, Chevrolet, 196.

28. (21)  Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 196.

29. (30)  Dexter Bean, Chevrolet, 195.

30. (23)  Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 194.

31. (34)  Kody Vanderwal #, Chevrolet, 191.

32. (16)  Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, Electrical, 179.

33. (19)  Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 166.

34. (35)  Vinnie Miller, Chevrolet, Too Slow, 51.

35. (36)  Chad Finchum, Toyota, Suspension, 36.

36. (33)  Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, Accident, 7.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  127.796 mph.
Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 20 Mins, 51 Secs. Margin of Victory:  1.370 Seconds.
Caution Flags:  6 for 28 laps.
Lead Changes:  8 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders:   C. Briscoe (P) 1-13;A. Cindric (P) 14-23;R. Chastain (P) 24-38;C. Briscoe (P) 39-50;R. Sieg (P) 51;C. Briscoe (P) 52-147;R. Sieg (P) 148-149;M. Annett (P) 150-157;C. Briscoe (P) 158-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Chase Briscoe (P) 4 times for 164 laps; Ross Chastain (P) 1 time for 15 laps; Austin Cindric (P) 1 time for 10 laps; Michael Annett (P) 1 time for 8 laps; Ryan Sieg (P) 2 times for 3 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 98,10,39,9,21,11,22,8,19,18
Stage #2 Top Ten: 98,9,22,39,21,19,11,8,7,18

Greg Engle