Chase Briscoe highlights the significance of his points penalty over recent results

Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe was penalized after the NASCAR Cup Series season opener at the Daytona 500 for having a modified base for the rear spoiler that did not comply with the rules. However, the base was later removed. The JGR driver came out during the Martinsville race weekend and blamed his poor result on the penalty.

Chase Briscoe was given a 100 championship points and 10 playoff points penalty following NASCAR’s discovery of the modified spoiler. However, a committee was later set up following JGR’s appeal and the same was later rescinded.

The #19 Toyota driver spoke with the media before the Martinsville qualifying and detailed how he drove differently compared to how he would've driven if he didn't have the 100-point setback on his mind.

Motorsport reporter Toby Christie uploaded a video of Briscoe highlighting the same on social media platform X as he explained the reason behind his poor results in the last few races. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver said:

“I mean, I definitely, you know, some of the results I feel like were because of the points penalty. Like, you know, COTA is the ultimate example of that. I was the first car on tires and I was racing extremely desperate, knowing that I was maybe going to be in a 100 point hole and I had to win that race. And if I would have known that I was in a different point situation, I would have raced that restart way more patiently.”

“So the points penalty, definitely, I would say with some of those results just racing differently than what I would have not being in that situation,” he added.

Since the Daytona 500 penalty, Chase Briscoe finished P21 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, P14 at COTA where he was once in a race-winning position, and P17 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway while picking up a DNF at Phoenix Raceway. However, he did finish in the Top 5 in last weekend’s race at Homestead Miami.

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NASCAR’s decision to overturn Chase Briscoe’s Daytona 500 penalty

Chase Briscoe prepares to get in the car after a rain delay for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway - Source: Imagn

A three-member panel of Dixon Johnston, Hunter Nickell, and Cathy Rice was set up to inspect Joe Gibbs Racing's appeal over the penalty awarded to Chase Briscoe. The #19 JGR Toyota Camry XSE violated Section 14.1 of the Rule Book which addresses rules of the overall assembled vehicles.

However, NASCAR found that the spoiler wasn't modified and that the fitment process caused the violation leading to the penalty being overturned. The statement read:

“The panel believes that the elongation of some of the holes on the No. 19 Cup car spoiler base is caused by the process of attaching that specific spoiler base to the rear deck and not modification of the single source part.”

Chase Briscoe finished P4 at the Daytona 500 and was awarded 33 points for the same. Briscoe is currently 13th in the championship, 109 points behind the leader William Byron.