"Never been more mad in my life": Chase Briscoe reflects on his career's "worst race" at Daytona amid "special" Darlington triumph

Chase Briscoe experienced one of the toughest weekends of his career at Daytona, only to secure his second Cup race victory shortly thereafter at Darlington. Briscoe had high hopes for a win at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in Daytona, buoyed by strong performances in earlier superspeedway races this season, including a 10th-place finish at the Daytona 500 and 12th at Talladega.

Despite a promising start with a P6 qualifying position at Daytona in the second-last race of the regular season, Briscoe fell to P26 by the end of Stage 1 and wrapped up Stage 2 in P23. Although he improved to finish P14 by the race’s end, Briscoe himself considered it one of his worst performances.

However, the following week at Darlington marked a turnaround; starting from P3, Briscoe clinched the victory. Reflecting on his mental adjustment post-Daytona, during his post-race interview, Chase Briscoe said:

"Truthfully last week was the worst race I've ever raced in my entire career. [...] I've never been more mad in my life. I didn't talk to any of the team guys and I texted Richard [Boswell] right after and I said I don't want everyone to talk about this race again. I don't want to ever talk about it this week and I promise I'll make it up to you this week. He came out there on the frontstretch and said I didn't know you could just turned it on and off like that."

In the concluding laps at Darlington, during the final restart on Lap 351, Kyle Busch launched from the inside of the fourth row, outfitted with fresh tires. He managed to advance past his competitors, except for Chase Briscoe. Despite his car becoming unstable and brushing against the wall multiple times in the last laps, Briscoe maintained his lead over Busch until the end to secure his second NASCAR Cup race victory.

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Previewing Chase Briscoe at the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart in Atlanta

So far, Chase Briscoe has competed in seven races at Atlanta Motor Speedway, posting an average finish of 20.9, with his best result being no higher than 15th place. His most recent appearance on this track was in February 2024, during the season's second race, where he started in ninth position but fell to 31st by the race's end.

Despite these results, Chase Briscoe's crew chief, Richard Boswell, remains hopeful. Following their victory at Darlington, he reflected positively on their upcoming performance in Atlanta:

"I would say until tonight Atlanta was our best race of the year. We had a great car chase was super aggressive all night long we got caught in a late race incident that took us out of contention for the win. So, I look at that as an opportunity for us to go up go in there and find our way into the round of 12." [via NASCAR]

Chase Briscoe will next be seen in the upcoming playoff races, beginning on September 8, 2024, at 3 PM ET.