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Chase Briscoe said he left Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin to join the Chevrolet line during Stage 1 at Talladega Superspeedway because slowing down to stay with Hamlin would have left him the last car on the bottom.
Hamlin vented about Briscoe on the radio during the stage, calling him “the worst” in a profanity-filled message, as Pit This Time reported Sunday. Briscoe explained his side when he spoke to the media Monday.
Briscoe: ‘I didn’t want to just slow down’
“The only time I can think of is maybe when we were coming off that green flag pit stop,” Briscoe said. “Denny was, I think, the tail end of the field. And the Chevys had a ton of momentum. So I just went with them. I didn’t want to just slow down and get behind him and be the last car on the bottom.”
https://x.com/bobpockrass/status/2114730326714954134
How Stage 1 played out
The field spent much of the opening stage saving fuel. Briscoe had been running with Hamlin and Ty Gibbs before the Chevrolets built momentum, and Briscoe moved over to join them. Hamlin was left without a drafting partner.
Up front, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski broke away from the fuel-saving pack and finished 1-2-3 in the stage, with Kyle Larson fourth. Briscoe was seventh. Hamlin fell to 17th and scored no stage points.
Toyota’s Chase problem
Four of the drivers still chasing the title drive Toyotas: Hamlin, Briscoe, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick. That leaves Toyota’s contenders drafting with the same drivers they are racing for the championship. Larson, the top Chevrolet contender, said after his win that he had help from Chevrolet drivers all day.
How it ended
Neither driver’s day went to plan. Briscoe, who started on the pole, was caught in the 15-car crash with five laps left and finished 33rd. He fell from third to fourth in the Chase standings, 79 points behind Larson.
Hamlin raced through damage from the Lap 132 crash to finish eighth and moved up to second, 73 points behind Larson. Bell is third, 74 back.
The Cup Series races next at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, on Sunday, November 1, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
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