Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe held off a late charge from the 2X Cup Series champion Kyle Busch to win the Southern 500 on Sunday. Busch had been in a must-win spot just like Briscoe had been to secure a playoff spot, but he raced clean and fair till the very end. This approach has drawn him applause from various corners of the sport and Briscoe’s crew chief was among the admirers.
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Richard Boswell told NASCAR after the race, “I didn’t know we were gonna win it until we got off of Turn 4. I knew Kyle would throw it down there into Turn 3. I mean, he’s just a class act. He races hard but he races clean. We respect that and we appreciate that.” A noteworthy point is that Busch never got close enough to Briscoe’s No. 14 car to make contact or potentially wreck him.
He admitted the same in his post-race interviews and termed the clean racing as “irrelevant.” Boswell continued to express his happiness at securing a playoff spot when his team was going to cease operations at the end of the season. He hopes to use this opportunity to make a push that would land them as deep into the playoffs as possible. But as far as first steps go, he looks forward to Atlanta.
He said, “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 there and find our way into the round of 12.” He expressed optimism about the races at Watkins Glen and Bristol as well.
The intense battle between Briscoe and Busch in Darlington
Briscoe was one of the last drivers anyone expected to create an upset in the regular season finale. He had led only 14 laps all season and his lone Cup Series victory came back in 2022. However, he fired up his engine and maintained top-five speed throughout the evening. Kyle Larson was easily outclassing the field with his expertise and ended up winning both stages.
With 26 laps to go, Briscoe made a brilliant pass on Larson and Ross Chastain to take the lead. But the job wasn’t done yet. Busch was cutting through the others on fresh tires and quickly making progress. He reached Briscoe with around 10 laps to go and was within a quarter of a second behind the Mustang.
Fortunately, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver was able to hold the former champion off and secure the flag. The win ended a 93-race drought for him and a 73-race drought for the team.
