Briscoe punches ticket to finale
Driver wins at Kansas to lock up spot in Xfinity series championship race
Chase Briscoe must have figured the best way to stay out of trouble was by staying up front.
The red-hot driver of the No. 98 Ford for Stewart-haas Racing swept the first two stages of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night, then he dominated after a restart with four laps to go to capture the first race in the round of eight and clinch his spot in the season finale at Phoenix.
Daniel Hemric was second and Ryan Sieg, who made a couple of pit gambles that left him with a fresh set of tires with seven laps to go, rallied from 10th on the final restart to finish third. Playoff contender Justin Haley also avoided trouble and was fourth with Josh Williams rounding out the top five.
“I’m glad — after all the chaos at the beginning of the race, a lot of the guys will be in scary points situations,” said Briscoe, who won his series-leading ninth race of the season.
“I’m glad we don’t have to deal with that.”
Playoff contenders Noah Gragson and Austin Cindric were involved in an early wreck. Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier were in one later in the race, which also sent Anthony Alfredo on a wild skid on his roof through Turn 1.
Allgaier avoided major damage, though, and came away leading the rest of the playoff field 11 points above the cut line heading to Texas and Martinsville. Jones is two points back and Cindric nine back, the last driver above the cutoff and two points clear of Haley. Ross Chastain is 12 points below the cut line, with Sieg and Gragson next.
Trucks: Brett Moffitt wasn’t about to finish second again — not with a spot in the series finale on the line. So when Zane Smith tried to pass him with three laps to go, Moffitt moved down ever so slightly and sent his teammate into a spin along the backstretch. Then, the 28-year-old from Iowa held off a field full of playoff contenders, winning a two-lap shootout to the checkered flag at Kansas Speedway on Saturday. “A bad block by me,” Moffitt said. “He got around me in lapped traffic, then I just put it on the line to run him back down. We got there and I tried to throw a block and we’re racing for everything right now. I apologize for that.” Moffitt got a big push from another teammate, Sheldon Creed, on the final restart and then beat the winner of the first two stages to the finish line. It was Moffitt’s first win of the season after a maddening four runner-up finishes. It couldn’t have come at a better time, either. It was the first of three Truck races that will trim the playoff field from eight to four for the finale, and the victory means that Moffitt won’t have to worry about qualifying the next two events. Austin Hill finished third with Grant Enfinger fourth and Chandler Smith fifth.