Chase Briscoe has been scoring huge for Joe Gibbs Racing in recent weeks. He secured a Round of 12 spot by winning the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. On Sunday, he followed through on the crown jewel win and finished runner-up at Gateway. Despite these positive showings, there is one pressing issue that his team needs to be cautious about.
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During the race at Gateway, Briscoe underwent an unexplainable issue on pit road. The left rear wheel wouldn’t get fixed in its place due to an error that still isn’t understood. On the back of every wheel, there are holes and pins. These pins push into the holes to lock the wheel in place.
Former crew chief Steve Letarte spoke about the ambiguous situation on NASCAR: Inside the Race. He said, “I don’t know if one of the pins were damaged because this was a continuing issue, kind of as the #19 went along… I don’t know what’s up with the left rear.
“Now, if I’m a Gibbs team or really a Toyota team, I want to know because it doesn’t sound like it was human error. Maybe it was human error the first time that made some damage, but now they have a tire that doesn’t want to tighten up.”
He felt that this would be a real problem as the playoffs continued. Letarte also lauded the quick presence of mind that crew chief James Small displayed by changing only the right side tires once this issue was recognized and securing a second-place finish. He acknowledged that the No. 19 Toyota was a really dangerous car and that it needs to sort its issues out before moving ahead.
Briscoe said about the issue in his post-race interview, “Our strength was our speed… Our weakness was just the sloppiness, right? Whether it was me behind the wheel or [on] pit road. I don’t know what the left-rear issue was.”
Following his move to Joe Gibbs Racing from Stewart-Haas Racing, Briscoe has been a stellar driver, pulling in extraordinary results. He currently sits second on the playoff standings, as the only driver alongside his teammate Denny Hamlin to have secured a Round of 12 spot.
He cannot afford to lose this momentum at this juncture if he wants to make history behind the wheel of the No. 19 car in his maiden season.
