Denny Hamlin Leads JGR Top-Three Sweep in Qualifying for \u2018Round of 8\u2019 Opener<\/a><\/p>\nAs the season is winding down, Briscoe has kept himself in the mix to make it this far in the playoffs through consistency and resiliency. It has played a contributing role in the 30-year-old having a career year across the board.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s easy to forget that the Indiana racer did make the Round of 8 in 2022 when he drove for Stewart-Haas Racing, only to not make the Championship 4.<\/p>\n
Now more than ever, Briscoe believes his debut season with Joe Gibbs Racing has provided him a grand opportunity to break through and potentially fight for a championship at Phoenix Raceway, one of Briscoe\u2019s strongest tracks, in three weeks.<\/p>\n
Even being in one of NASCAR\u2019s top-tier organizations, Briscoe knows it will be a tough battle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like it\u2019s probably the strongest Round of 8 we\u2019ve ever had. When you look at the teams and drivers, it\u2019s not going to be easy,\u201d said Briscoe during Saturday\u2019s media scrum at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. \u201cThe points are way tighter than they\u2019ve ever been, too. Nobody has been able to separate themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis time of the year, you have to go and perform. I don\u2019t think anything really changes from the rest of the playoffs, but you can\u2019t really afford mistakes now like you could in the first round(s). It\u2019ll be a stiff competition that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the major headlines this weekend is that there are only three organizations represented in the Round of 8, and those teams have won nine out of the last 10 NASCAR Cup Series championships \u2013 JGR, Team Penske, and Hendrick Motorsports.<\/p>\n
Briscoe remarked that no playoff driver has a true competitive edge over the rest of the contenders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first year I\u2019ve ever been in one of those cars. I feel confident that we can make the Championship 4,\u201d said Briscoe. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely an elite company, so it\u2019s cool to even be racing in the same category with those guys and considered as one of those guys because I\u2019ve been racing against them the last 4-5 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely different now to be considered one of them, and hopefully we can prove that we belong there too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joe Gibbs Racing has also been in the headlines with Briscoe\u2019s teammates Denny Hamlin, who endured an emotionally fueled Round of 12, and Christopher Bell seeking redemption from last year\u2019s Round of 8.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, Briscoe has stayed low from the chaos, and despite being considered by many as the underdog among the remaining playoff contenders, he explained that his No. 19 squad is as good as the other seven, including his teammates.<\/p>\n
However, the Round of 8 is also the land of unpredictability as each track (Las Vegas, Talladega Superspeedway, and Martinsville Speedway) has its own wild factor that can make a difference in punching a ticket into the Championship 4 or see their championship aspirations sink.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 19 team has been in a good spot. Truthfully, whether it\u2019s morale or confidence-wise, we\u2019ve been out (of the controversies). I feel really good where we\u2019re at as a team,\u201d Briscoe commented. \u201cWe definitely put a lot of emphasis on this weekend, knowing there\u2019s a lot of unknowns these next two weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know, I feel like we\u2019re as good as anybody in the sport right now from a speed standpoint. Even we\u2019ve been doing a decent job at executing, so we got to put it together for four more weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The optimism carried over to qualifying as Briscoe will roll off second alongside teammate Hamlin in the 267-lap contest (click here for the official South Point 400 starting lineup<\/a>).<\/p>\nTelevision coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. ET on USA. Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of that event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2013 The Round of 8 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff competitors provide loads of experiences and championships.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":297503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1444,46824,16412,117115,1406,1459,1422,151740,117117,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-297502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-1444","9":"tag-chase-briscoe","10":"tag-joe-gibbs-racing","11":"tag-las-vegas-motor-speedway","12":"tag-nascar","13":"tag-nascar-cup-series","14":"tag-nascar-playoffs","15":"tag-playoffs-round-of-8","16":"tag-south-point-400","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115361726081431448","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}