Chase Briscoe may be on the brink of elimination in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, but he actually feels he has momentum heading into the Oct. 5 Charlotte Roval (2 p.m. CT, USA Network) for the Round of 12 where only eight drivers will advance.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who sits in seventh place with 3,091 points and only 20 points above the cutoff line, finished fourth after winning the pole in the NASCAR Kansas race on Sept. 28.
He was still in contention with eight laps to go when he lined up behind Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell on a restart on the ninth caution brought out by Zane Smith’s bizarre crash.
“I thought I was going to, honestly, still have a really good shot to win the race, and when Bell got in the fence off of four, I had to all but stop, and it just ruined my momentum,” Briscoe said after the race. “Scrappy day for our Toyota. Would have loved to be obviously a little bit better.”
Chase Briscoe averaging top-5 finish in NASCAR playoffs
Briscoe won the first race of the playoffs at Darlington and has averaged a top-5 finish in all five races. That’s why he is surprised to be so close to the elimination line.
“Crazy, we’re averaging a top-five finish in the playoffs, and we’re only 20 points above,” Briscoe said. “Never feel safe at the Roval, but go there and try to do our job. Our road course stuff is pretty good there. See what we can do.”
Briscoe, who also won at Pocono in June, was strong in the second half the 2025 regular season after a dismal first half. He finished second in three out of four races (Sonoma and Denver in July, then weeks later at Iowa), and was second in the playoffs at World Wide Technology Raceway in Illinois. He was fifth at Watkins Glen in August and ninth at Bristol in the playoffs.
Chase Briscoe’s stats, Charlotte Roval history
Briscoe had success on road courses in the Xfinity Series, winning at the Charlotte R in 2018 and the Indianapolis Road Course in 2020.
More recently, Briscoe finished second to Shane van Gisbergen at the Sonoma Raceway. He also led for 13 laps in the Chicago Street Race.
Briscoe has a total of seven top-10 finishes on road courses in the Cup Series.
NASCAR playoff standings before Charlotte Roval elimination race
1. Ryan Blaney (locked into the Round of 8 after New Hampshire win)
2. Chase Elliott (locked into the Round of 8 after Kansas win)
3. Kyle Larson +54 ahead of 8th
4. Denny Hamlin +48
5. Christopher Bell +44
6. William Byron +40
7. Chase Briscoe +21
8. Joey Logano +13
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9. Ross Chastain -13 behind 8th
10. Bubba Wallace -26
11. Tyler Reddick -29
12. Austin Cindric -48
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
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