"Guys that are running up front are guys that are most aggressive" - Chase Briscoe’s racing mindset despite unhappy NASCAR competitors

Stewart Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe secured his second top-10 finish of the season at Phoenix Raceway. En route to his ninth-place result, he found himself in a four-wide battle with Erik Jones, who expressed dissatisfaction with Briscoe's aggressive moves.

In the final stage of the race, Briscoe and Jones were jostling for positions within the top 10. They got caught in a four-wide mid-pack when Bubba Wallace shot the gap between them, which resulted in the #43 Toyota driver hitting the outside barrier and dropping down the field.

Jones vented his frustration after finishing 31st, claiming that Chase Briscoe was dragging him down on every restart. He highlighted that this wasn't the first time they had encountered such issues, as he told Frontstretch.com:

"He [Briscoe] seems to have an issue with me every week. I’ll call him this week, he probably won’t call be back, and [I’d] love to talk to him."

Briscoe expressed confusion with Jones' frustration, stating that he was willing to discuss the matter with the #43 Toyota driver. He said (via Frontstretch.com):

"I don’t know what I did, I know we were four wide at one point. I got super tight and got into him, I think. I don’t know if that’s the part he’s mad about or what. If he calls me, I’ll gladly answer. I’ve never really talked to Erik before, and I don’t have a problem with him at all, but I feel like we definitely always race around each other."

The #14 Stewart Haas Racing driver added that his aggressive moves were necessary as they were racing at the front, and he didn't want to repeat his past mistakes of giving up track position. He added:

"I'm racing hard, I’m trying to do what’s best for my guys. Last year I kind of let people go and this year I'm not doing that, the guys that run up front are the guys that are most aggressive, and I'm going back those ways."

Erik Jones and Chase Briscoe currently occupy the 18th and 19th positions respectively in the standings, separated by a single point.

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Chase Briscoe highlights the impact of the tires with the new package

NASCAR introduced the new aero package at Phoenix Raceway, which received mixed reactions from the drivers with no drastic improvement seen in the racing aspect.

Chase Briscoe believes the new package was a step in the right direction but the lack of tire falloff negated any gains made with the new changes. He said in the post-race interview (via Frontstretch.com):

"Honestly, the package would be really good if we were on the right tires. The tires so good, it doesn't really fall, I mean it falls off a little bit, [but] it just has so much grip still. So package wise, I feel like we were able to slide around a little bit more but the tires so good, it just holds you."

NASCAR heads to another short track this weekend as it returns to the concrete oval at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500 on March 17.