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HighPoint.com/Ford Performance Racing School Driver Takes Championship Points Lead

Date: May 21, 2020

Event: Darlington 200 (Round 5 of 33)

Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series

Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.366-mile oval)

Format: 147 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/57 laps)

Start/Finish: 11th/1st (Running, completed 147 of 147 laps)

Point Standing: 1st (223 points, 19 ahead of second)

Race Winner: Chase Briscoe of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)

Stage 1 Winner: Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Overview:

Chase Briscoe beat one of the best drivers in NASCAR to score his fourth career Xfinity Series victory and his second this season. The driver of the No. 98 HighPoint.com/Ford Performance Racing School Mustang started 11th for the 200-lap race around the 1.366-mile oval and ran consistently among the top-10 through the race’s first 90 laps. A quick pit stop on lap 91 for four tires and field allowed Briscoe to restart in second place on lap 96. The 25-year-old driver from Mitchell, Indiana, promptly took the lead, pacing the field for the next 34 laps. A caution on lap 133 allowed Briscoe to pit one final time for fresh tires and fuel, and another lightning-fast stop put Briscoe in the lead for the lap-138 restart. This set up a battle between Briscoe and Busch, the winningest driver in Xfinity Series history with 96 career victories. But Briscoe would not be denied, crossing the finish line first in a fender-scraping, tire-rubbing duel where the margin of victory was just .086 of a second.

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 98 HighPoint.com/Ford Performance Racing School Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“This is the best thing that could happen, honestly. For those that don’t know, we had a miscarriage Tuesday of our daughter and, to be honest with you, I wasn’t sure what racing we would do. God is so good. Earlier when I got dressed, I prayed that whatever His will is, just let it be done today. I knew He was going to have a high because of the low, and it’s just unbelievable to win here at Darlington and to beat Kyle Busch doing it.

“I just kept making a lot of mistakes on the final lap. Emotionally, I wasn’t there. Getting into turn one, I knew that there was no way he was going to drive in deeper than me. I wasn’t going to let it happen. Kyle was gracious enough to at least leave me a little bit of a lane and it was a heck of a race. This is the number one win. Honestly, winning the Daytona 500 couldn’t even top the feeling of the ups and downs. This is what my family needed and what my wife needed.

“This has been the hardest week I’ve ever had to deal with. At the initial start, I was all over the place emotionally, and then when I had the lead with 50 to go, I was just making so many mistakes because I was literally crying inside the racecar. There’s nothing else to say other than God is just so glorious. Obviously, I’m happy to get HighPoint.com and Ford Performance Racing School in victory lane, but this is more than a race win. This is the biggest day of my life after the toughest day in my life, and to be able to beat the best there is, is so satisfying.”

Notes:

● The win gave Briscoe the lead in the championship standings. He holds a 19-point advantage over second-place Harrison Burton.

● This was Briscoe’s 55th career Xfinity Series start, but only his second at Darlington. He finished sixth in last year’s race.

● Briscoe led three times for 45 laps.

● Briscoe finished eighth in Stage 1 to earn three bonus points and fourth in Stage 2 to earn an additional seven bonus points.

● There were five caution periods for a total of 28 laps.

● Twenty-four of the 39 drivers in the Darlington 200 finished on the lead lap.

Next Up:

The next event on the Xfinity Series schedule is the Alsco 300 on Monday, May 25 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Track: Darlington Raceway

Race: Toyota 200

Date: May 21, 2020

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No. 22 MoneyLion Ford Mustang – Austin Cindric

Start: 7th

Stage 1: 5th

Stage 2: 8th

Finish: 4th

Status: Running

Laps Completed: 147/147

Laps Led: 0

Point Standings (behind first): 3rd (-26)

Notes:

Austin Cindric scored a fourth-place finish in the rain-delayed Toyota 200 Thursday evening at Darlington Raceway, NASCAR’s first Xfinity Series race in more than 72 days during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cindric passed Noah Gragson with two laps to go to score his third top-five and fourth consecutive top-10 finish. The driver of the No. 22 MoneyLion Ford Mustang holds firm to third-place in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driver standings, 26 markers behind leader Chase Briscoe.
Cindric started seventh in the 147-lap, 200-mile race after the lineup was set per random draw. During the first 45-lap stage, Cindric battled a tight Ford Mustang and finished Stage 1 in fifth position. He pitted on lap 47 for four tires, fuel, and adjustments to aid his tight-handling Mustang and restarted sixth when the race went green on lap 50.
Stage 2 was uneventful for the Mooresville, N.C. native. The 45-lap segment ran caution free and Cindric, who ran inside the top-10 throughout the stage, was credited with an eighth-place finish when the stage ended on lap 90.
The third and final stage ran caution free until lap 133, setting up a short run to the finish. Crew chief Brian Wilson called Cindric to the pits one last time for four tires, fuel, and adjustments. Cindric used the fresh tires and adjustments to his advantage, passing Gragson for fourth place less than two miles from the checkered flag.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is back in action May 25 at Charlotte Motor Speedway at 7:30 p.m. with live coverage on FS1 and PRN.

Quote: “I think it was definitely a three-part afternoon. Obviously, we did a good job of at least unloading close enough. We had a little bit of a hiccup there with a tach that didn’t work, so I wasn’t able to quite maximize pit road speed today. Finishing fourth today, I thought we did overachieve a little bit. I thought we were just outside of being a top five car, but as a team I think we did a great job of making our car better throughout the race from the first lap to every change and so on, so I’m proud of that. I think that’s a team effort and it’s good to get back in that kind of rhythm, and I guess the third part — restarts are fun, restarts are crazy. After I cleared the nine there for fourth I think for the next three laps all I did was watch Chase try and win the race. With as much that’s going on in his life that’s a big moment for him and his family and being friends with him that’s pretty cool to see. Obviously, if I can’t win I want another Ford to win, so I’m glad we were able to push him there.”

Chase Briscoe Wins at Darlington

Team Penske NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Report – Darlington