Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe did not have the worst of races in Martinsville on Sunday. He finished in 10th place, scored stage points, and was one of the fastest Ford drivers on the field. But these positives have done little to help him fill the gap of potential that was left unfilled. Talking to NASCAR after completing his duties, he spoke of the reasons for his dissatisfaction.
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Briscoe had qualified in 5th place driving the #14 Ford Mustang. Driving on good momentum with two top-ten finishes this season and news of his wife’s pregnancy, he was expecting to finish high up on the leaderboard on race day. However, untimely mistakes from himself and his crew foiled those chances. He did lead 8 laps at a point, but that was pretty much it for him in the front of the grid.
Branding it the “worst” 10th place finish he could’ve got, he expressed his frustration to the press. He said, “We were better than that all race long, so that is frustrating. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We lost a couple of spots on pit road and then ran long and lost a lot of track time there. I thought our car was good enough to for sure run in the top three.”
Briscoe believed that he could’ve held his position if he’d been able to break into and stay in the frontage for longer. He continued that he’d been impressed with his car’s speed and would take it forward to the next Cup Series race at the Texas Motor Speedway. “We need to figure out how to execute a little better. We had good speed, we just need to capitalize on it better,” he said.
How did Stewart-Haas Racing fare as a whole in the Martinsville Speedway?
It is no news that Tony Stewart’s team has been taking strides toward winning races and contending for the championship again. The only bump right now is that the process appears to be moving at a slower pace than Stewart or his partner Gene Haas might like. Apart from Briscoe, just one other SHR driver – Ryan Preece – managed to break into the top ten on Sunday with a 9th-place finish.
The newcomers Noah Gragson and Josh Berry are still battling their demons, coming in at 20th and 25th respectively. The points table does not paint a very beautiful picture of the status of things either.
Briscoe sits highest in 16th place, followed by Josh Berry in 23rd. Preece and Gragson wallow outside the top 25 mark. With talks of a charter reduction coming the team’s way as soon as 2025, the four SHR men would be better off gearing up for a tumultuous time ahead.
