CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR Cup Series regulars Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe are making a 900-mile weekend out of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The duo will compete in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, the BetMGM 300, ahead of Sunday’s premier Coca-Cola 600. Dillon, the 2013 Xfinity champion returning to the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, hasn’t driven in the series since 2023. Briscoe, driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, hasn’t raced in Xfinity competition since 2022.
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Both have had plenty of experience — and success — at the Xfinity level. The difference, though, stems from their mindsets entering Saturday’s 200-lap contest.
“I’m excited to get a Xfinity car — an RCR Xfinity car, especially,” Dillon said. “You know, they’ve been very fast this season and they’ve always been known for ECR engines, so I’m pumped to get in the No. 3 Boot Barn Chevy and have some fun at a place that I’ve had some success at in the Xfinity Series. So hopefully I can bring something to Jesse (Love) and Austin (Hill) this weekend on Saturday. It also gives me some momentum for Sunday.”
Briscoe on the other hand was a bit more trepidatious.
“I would be lying if I didn‘t say I‘m extremely nervous for the Xfinity race,” Briscoe said. “Just not being in one for a long time — even when I ran in ’22, it was on a road course. I haven‘t really ran one since 2020, and that was obviously a good year for me, so I feel like there is all of these high expectations coming in running the Xfinity car. I don‘t know what to expect. I feel like the feel is so different than what a Cup car is. Even sitting in the car in the shop, it feels so foreign, how the pedals are — there is no virtual mirror in there, camera mirror, so that part of it, I would say I‘m definitely nervous. I‘m excited, but I am nervous.”
Part of their difference in emotional nerves may stem from their past Charlotte results in Xfintiy competition. Dillon is a two-time winner at Charlotte, his home track, with six top fives and seven top 10s in 12 starts. In four starts for Briscoe, his best finish is sixth, his only top-10 finish at the 1.5-mile quad-oval which came while driving the No. 99 Ford for BJ McLeod Motorsports.
Both RCR and JGR are regular contenders at the front of the Xfinity Series field though, evidenced this year by RCR’s four wins (three for Hill, one for Love) and JGR’s two (Brandon Jones and Aric Almirola).
“I feel like RCR has done a very good job of dominating in the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series,” Dillon said. “I think it comes back to the employees that we’ve had for a very long time — the faces that I had when I was in the Xfinity Series, and the faces I had when I was in the Truck Series are still there. Some have even left and then come back. Those guys are just known for speed, so I think that core group is what’s important and why those cars are extremely fast.
“And I know looking back, if I knew what I knew now, I would love to be in my trucks again. I’d love to be in my Xfinity cars again. I feel like I could go out there and win 10-race seasons with the experience I have in the Cup level. But that’s the reason why you keep moving and gaining experience in the Cup Series is just a whole other level. So I’m excited to get back in the Xfinity car.”
Briscoe sits 12th in Cup Series points in his day job and graded his 2025 efforts — Year No. 1 with JGR — at a “B- (or) C+” as he adjusts to Gibbs’ and Toyota’s equipment. The chance to compete for a victory Saturday, he said, could indeed help his Sunday approach.
“If you are winning, it helps your confidence,” Briscoe said. “It would definitely not be a confidence booster if I went to Xfinity car and ran 20th (Saturday). I definitely think going there and running up front will definitively build confidence. It is a little bit different now because SHR (Stewart-Haas Racing) — I didn‘t have four or five top-fives at this point of the season, so any time you can go run up front, it‘s like I can still do this, where now, it is different because I feel like I‘m doing it more often on Sunday, but certainly, if I can go tomorrow and win, it just builds all of those things, so yeah, I want to go and win tomorrow. It will certainly help the confidence.”
Dillon, 21st in Cup points, has three top 10s in his last four Sunday starts. But with only four total Xfinity starts since the start of 2022, Dillon expects some cobwebs to shake off Saturday.
“It has been two years, so I just want to make sure I get to the gears clean the first time because it’s not just back and forth like we have every Sunday,” Dillon said. “Got that H-pattern again. So we’ll have fun with that and try to go win a race in our No. 3 Boot Barn Chevy.”
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