Chase Briscoe explains what’s ‘good’ about JGR’s ‘alarming’ practice at Phoenix

Chase Briscoe found the only saving grace in a rather 'unfortunate' practice at Phoenix Raceway. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver remained confident that his team could make a turnaround before Sunday's title decider.

Briscoe suffered a flat tire and ended his day early with the fewest laps recorded. Moreover, the No.19 driver also reported a vibration issue near the end. Briscoe was the only outlier, since Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Suarez and Riley Herbst all fell victim to flat tires.

With JGR's growing concerns over mechanical gremlins, the Hoosier native found comfort in other teams experiencing similar issues. Reflecting upon the same, Chase Briscoe said(via NASCAR's official website),

“Yeah, I guess it’s a good thing that it’s not just us, right? It’s unfortunate it’s happening, but at least we’re not on an island by ourselves. Yeah, so I’m sure that James (Small, crew chief) and everybody on our Bass Pro Shops Tracker Toyota will figure out what we can do to help manage that on Sunday. Definitely alarming. This wasn’t a great practice for us just because we didn’t really get to run a lot because of the issues. We’ll get to work on it and see what we can do.”

Hamlin logged the best time among the championship four, coming in at fifth fastest with an overall speed of 131.262 mph. William Byron was the next best driver at 131.099 mph, while his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson trailed him with 130.961 mph.

The Toyota stable showed promise with Ty Gibbs topping the timesheets.

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Chase Briscoe addresses close margins with title contenders

Chase Briscoe recently went over his 'evenly matched' championship rivals, noting that all four teams are similar in pace. He believes factors like pit stops, restarts, and lane choice will ultimately decide who comes out on top.

In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR radio, Briscoe said,

"On the racetrack, its gonna be hard for us to pass each other just because we probably really will be really, really close in speed but it's all gonna be won or lost on pit road or on a restart or whatever. So, it's just the little variables"

Chase Briscoe's spring race at Phoenix painted a sobering picture. While Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson finished in podium places, Briscoe got caught up in a multi-car wreck and retired to a 35th-place finish.

His qualifying wasn't impressive as well, as he had a backmarker start in 30th. Moreover, the 30-year-old could only muster a tenth-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which is a flat track that shares similarities with Phoenix Raceway.

Nonetheless, Briscoe has been steadily gaining momentum with the No.19 team, with two of his three wins coming from the playoffs alone. If he can keep his form intact, a close battle to the finish is on the cards.