Saturday Kansas Notebook
Today at 03:30 PM
After swap, Chase Briscoe‘s new pit crew has much to prove
The pit crew servicing Chase Biscoe‘s car this weekend won‘t be the same group that helped propel him into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with an 11th-hour win at Darlington and subsequently into the Round of 12.
Briscoe learned Monday of a swap that will bring the crew of the No. 4 Ford of Josh Berry to his No. 14 Mustang. Briscoe is the only Stewart-Haas Racing driver to have qualified for the Playoffs this season.
"The pit crew thing is tough, because the guys that I’ve had have been on it for the last year and a half… they got changed whenever (Kevin) Harvick was in the Playoffs, so I’m back kind of with my original guys," Briscoe said.
From Berry‘s car, Briscoe gets front tire changer Daniel Coffey, rear tire changer Daniel Smith, tire carrier Mason Flynt, fueler Evan Marchal and jackman Brandon Banks.
Berry will be working with front tire changer Shayne Pipala, rear tire changer Dakota Ratcliff, tire carrier Jon Bernal, fueler Corey Coppola, and jackman Kap Fletcher.
"Last week was a struggle, right?" Briscoe said of his pit crew‘s performance in last Saturday‘s Round of 16 elimination race at Bristol. "We had a couple of bad pit stops, but there’s tons of races that I have bad mistakes, too, and it’s just a tough situation all the way around.
"You don’t want guys to be on the 14 and get kicked off, but that’s the decision that was made and you‘ve got to just try to move on from it. I told Josh on the way over here today that your pit crew has got to be on it this weekend. They‘ve got a lot to prove."
Complicating Briscoe‘s weekend is his status on baby watch. He and wife Marissa are expecting twins.
"If I get a call, I told her the earliest I’ll probably be home is 7 o’clock by the time I would get on a plane," Briscoe said. "Coach Joe Gibbs (whom Briscoe will drive for next year) has been super awesome about telling me I can use his plane if something happens. I have to practice. I have to qualify, and I have to race.
"So, yeah, I mean, I’m here. We’re in the Playoffs. Obviously, if I wasn’t in the Playoffs, I would be home if something happened. The contingency plan is I’m here to race for championship. Marissa understands that.
"It obviously would get tricky if it comes at certain times, but I even told (crew chief) Richard (Boswell) if it happens during the race, don’t tell me. Just tell me as soon as we take the checkered flag, "Hey look, Marissa went into labor,‘ so I can get out of the car and just go as fast as I can."
Hendrick Motorsports drivers committed to open-book policy
In last Saturday‘s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, all five Chevrolet drivers advanced to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
That includes all four drivers from Hendrick Motorsports, who are competitors as well as teammates. As such, they are chasing the same prize, the Bill France Cup symbolic of the series championship.
That said, the four drivers and their teams at HMS have been remarkably helpful to each other as the season has progressed.
"I feel like it‘s always a really open book with us," said William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. "I feel like about since 2021 when Rudy (Fugle, Byron‘s crew chief) and (teammate) Kyle (Larson) came on board, it‘s really been an open book.
"So we‘ve shared a lot of notes. I feel like our setups are pretty similar, and that‘s been the case for a little while now."
On the track, it‘s more difficult for the teammates to work together, even at a track like Talladega (the second track in the Round of 12) where cars need to team up in order to pass.
"We try to, for sure," Byron said. "We try to draft together, but you always kind of get mixed in with other guys, and you just have to try to make your lane go forward.
"It‘s hard, but definitely pitting together and strategy, we do all that stuff together, for sure."
Denny Hamlin needs to make his mark in first two Round of 12 races
To say that the Charlotte Roval hasn‘t been kind to Denny Hamlin is a bit of an understatement.
The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota finished fifth on the infield/oval hybrid road course in 2021, but otherwise his best result in six starts was 12th in 2018.
That‘s why Hamlin hopes he‘s in a strong position to advance to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs before the series races at the Roval on Oct. 13. That requires strong showings Sunday at Kansas and Oct. 6 at Talladega.
The Roval has undergone configuration changes designed to create more passing zones, and that‘s a further complication.
"Certainly, the Roval will be a challenge, but it‘s going to be a challenge for everyone to learn the new track," Hamlin said. "Yeah, we want to get as much business as we can done over the next two weeks. No doubt about it. You always want to have a bigger buffer going into that final race (of the round), just simply because of the flip-flopping that can go on during stages there.
"Passing at the Roval has been extremely, extremely hard. We‘ve seen guys that stay out for stage points do not make it back up to the front no matter how good their car is. So, I just think, generally speaking, you want to have some sort of buffer going into that track so you can play strategy multiple ways."
— NASCAR Wire Service —
