Advertisement

Weekend at Briscoe's as Cup Series charges into Charlotte for Coca-Cola 600

jeff bartlett, the times-mail
·4 min read

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mitchell's Chase Briscoe and virtually all of the other drivers on the Cup Series circuit get to enjoy a weekend at home for Memorial Day as the schedule leaves them in the heart of NASCAR country for the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday at 6 p.m. at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The race is slated for 400 laps (four stages of 100 laps) for 600 miles over the 1.5-mile oval. It will be televised on FS1 while the radio broadcast will be on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Mitchell's Chase Briscoe will be back with the Mahindra Tractors colors at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday.
Mitchell's Chase Briscoe will be back with the Mahindra Tractors colors at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday.

Briscoe kept himself busy on this weekend at home by competing in the debut of the new Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota on Tuesday and Wednesday at Millbridge Speedway in Salisbury, N.C. Briscoe finished 12th in the feature Tuesday and ninth of 20 cars on Wednesday.

Set for longest race of season

Briscoe will be making his second start in NASCAR's longest race Sunday, and he'll be back carrying the Mahindra Tractors colors on the No. 14 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR). Briscoe finished 25th in the 2021 Coca-Cola 600.

It has been a struggle in recent races for the 14 team, and Briscoe is hoping they can take lessons learned from the 1.5-mile ovals at Las Vegas and Kansas and apply them at Charlotte.

Mitchell's Chase Briscoe (14) duels side-by-side with Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick in the Daytona 500. The drivers will be back in action Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
Mitchell's Chase Briscoe (14) duels side-by-side with Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick in the Daytona 500. The drivers will be back in action Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

“At Vegas, we qualified fourth and ran up front and then we had a tire go down, but I felt really, really good about our mile-and-a-half stuff," Briscoe said. "Then we go to Kansas and that was a real struggle for us. I don’t know why that was. It wasn’t just a struggle for us, it was obviously a struggle for all the Ford teams.

"But then we saw Penske up front at Texas, so I’m not sure what to expect. This is definitely a race you don’t want to be off because it’s a long night if you are.”

A memorable mission

The NASCAR Cup teams will be on a memorable mission Sunday as they race with the images of fallen military members on the sides of their cars.

This is the paint scheme for Chase Briscoe's car for the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway
This is the paint scheme for Chase Briscoe's car for the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway

The No. 14 team will honor the memory of U.S. Army Sgt. Larry Robert (Bobby) Bowman, a North Carolina native, as part of NASCAR’s annual “600 Miles of Remembrance.”

Chase Briscoe (right) talks with SHR co-owner Gene Haas before the 64th Daytona 500.
Chase Briscoe (right) talks with SHR co-owner Gene Haas before the 64th Daytona 500.

Sgt. Bowman, of Granite Falls, died April 13, 2007, when his vehicle struck a roadside improvised explosive device during a mission in Baghdad. He was serving his second tour in Iraq with the 513th Transportation Company, 57th Transportation Battalion, 593rd Corps Support Group as a heavy vehicle driver delivering food, water, fuel and other mission critical supplies. He was scheduled to return home just three months later.

Briscoe solid at Charlotte

In four NASCAR Xfinity Series starts on the Charlotte oval, Briscoe has a best finish of sixth last May after starting second. While he’s still looking for his first win on the oval layout, he has visited Charlotte’s victory lane after scoring his first career Xfinity Series victory on the Roval in October 2018.

Mitchell's Chase Briscoe (14) duels for position with Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer (41) during the Wise Power 400 in California. The SHR teams will compete at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday night.
Mitchell's Chase Briscoe (14) duels for position with Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer (41) during the Wise Power 400 in California. The SHR teams will compete at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday night.

In addition to his Xfinity Series experience at Charlotte, Briscoe also made one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series appearance in 2017, when he started second and finished 11th in the N.C. Education Lottery 200.

A spate of poor luck and sour finishes have slipped Briscoe to 14th in the driver championship with 13 of 36 races complete. He currently holds a spot in the 16-driver playoff field by virtue of his March 13 win at Phoenix Raceway.

Briscoe indicated that Charlotte will be something of a mystery Sunday despite the team testing there in the offseason.

“It’s definitely the one track I feel like the most people have the most laps at as far as with this car," he said. "But, every time we were testing at Charlotte, we were running different packages. I’ve never run the current package at Charlotte.

"This track is unique and sensitive. It does have some tire falloff. It’s really heat-sensitive, and one of the rougher racetracks we go to. But yeah, I don’t know, I don’t know what to expect for the 600.”

Contact Times-Mail Sports Writer Jeff Bartlett at jeffb@tmnews.com, or on Twitter @jeffbtmnews.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Mail: Chase Briscoe, Cup teams to stay home for Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte