On Sunday, Chase Briscoe must resort to some desperate measures at the Charlotte ROVAL. Starting 26th, the Mitchell, Indiana native will be the deepest in the pack out of all Playoff contenders when the flag waves for green. 

That is quite the challenge for a driver who made a name for himself winning road course races in the lower series. But the ROVAL is no ordinary road course this year. And the circumstances Briscoe finds himself in currently do not come about every day. After all, a 32-point deficit against the Round of 8 cutline is not a pleasing sight, especially when your responsibilities as a father just increased thanks to a set of beautiful twins. And it looks like parenthood has lit a fire in the heart of Chase Briscoe because he’s almost hell-bent on winning himself another road race.

32 points out is only an opportunity for Chase Briscoe

On October 8th, Marissa and Chase Briscoe became parents to the newest Briscoes in the NASCAR family–Cooper Banks & Collins Ivy. They named little Cooper after his mother’s maiden name, while his sister, Collins Ivy, might have drawn inspiration from Lily Collins’ character in the 2009 sports drama The Blind Side. It was a heartwarming moment that came only days after Bubba Wallace and his wife, Amanda, announced the birth of Becks Hayden Wallace. Looks like the NASCAR baby season is in full swing these days. But with it comes a whole range of responsibilities for the deserving parents.

For starters, Briscoe could gift his newly grown family of 5, a championship trophy in what would be a landmark minute for stock-car racing. Imagine the scene: a driver from Indiana, who is still under the last few months of his contract with soon-to-shut-down Stewart-Haas Racing, wins the Bill France Cup in the #14 that Tony Stewart made famous. NASCAR Twitter would break for a second, at least in the Hoosier Country.

But to do that, the #14 driver must first overcome a negative points margin to make it past the Round of 8. And to top it off, he cannot afford anything less than a five-star performance at the ROVAL elimination race. Answering a question for Frontstretch, Briscoe explained the situation, “I think for us, it’s honestly better that we’re kind of in the position that we are 32 out or whatever it is, versus 15. Just because if you’re 15 to even 20, that is doable. Where with 30, at least for us, we’re just looking at it as a must-win.” Hence, theoretically, if the #14 team cannot win and book that automatic berth into the next round, they need to win both stages and finish third or better to make up for the points deficit. 

And although their driver realizes that by checking all those boxes “you could maybe point your way in,” he’s also aware that “a lot of things would have to go your way” for something like that to happen. “So I think it honestly opens up a lot for us from a strategy standpoint of just going in with the approach of flipping the track position and everything else,” said Briscoe. who will need to use the stages and the cautions to climb up in position from P26 on race day. “So yeah, to be below the cut line is obviously unfortunate. But honestly, I would much rather it be 30-something points than 15, just because I think it makes it a little more clear of what you need to do from a strategy standpoint.”

Adding to that, he also declared that “out of all the tracks in this round, this is the one,” where he felt “most confident to come and battle for the win.” And why wouldn’t he be? Briscoe won his inaugural win in the second tier at the first-ever ROVAL Xfinity race in 2018. Sure, his best-ever Cup finish at the hybrid layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway was a P9 almost two years ago. But it would be foolish to doubt his road course prowess at any level.

However, there’s a minor hitch in plans for those who think this year’s ROVAL will be like any other. And you can thank a brand-new layout and a contentious reconfigure for all the suspense.

Restart chaos looms at the ROVAL

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After a semi-successful Coca-Cola 600 in May, the Charlotte Motor Speedway officials undertook a noteworthy repaving project of the infield road course. Track president Greg Walter had said at the time that, “These enhancements are designed to challenge drivers to further push their limits and race for the win in an event that will make or break the championship hopes of several Playoff contenders.” Now, which side of the spectrum Chase Briscoe finds himself on will be an entirely different debate on Sunday.

As for the changes, Turns 5 to 7 is where the crux of the new layout lies. This year, when the field makes a right-hander off Turn 5, they won’t be making another right off the following turn. Instead, a longer, elevated “corkscrew” straightaway will bypass the corner, all the way to Turn 7, which is the intended “passing zone” that’s been making all the noise lately. Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports quite aptly compared it to “making a U-turn on a one-way street.” Once the cars are past this hazardous hairpin, they will be back on the original oval layout of the CMS, to be met by a sharper chicane on the backstretch, and some minor readjustments on the ‘esses’ before the start-finish line.

This new ROVAL is bound to turn up the chaos to eleven, Regardless, Chase Briscoe is “honestly glad of the changes, just due to the fact that I feel like it just makes it a little bit more of an even playing field…” Reminded of the first time he raced on this unique layout, he opined, “There’s a lot of new and nobody really has the advantage of just having laps here…” So, like Briscoe said, “I’m excited for the new changes. I think it fits me a little bit better anyways. That section that they took out was probably my worst part of the racetrack. So yeah, I feel really good about it for sure.”

And while most are worried about the new chute down the infield, Briscoe is worried about a different section of the racetrack. “The biggest implication will be on restarts,” said Briscoe, shedding light on a potential issue that very few are focusing on at the present moment. “Last year was the first time we went through that chicane for an actual restart, and it was hairy just trying to go through there two wide, and now it’s going to be even tighter. The restarts are going to be very, very interesting now.” – warned the soon-to-be Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

So, will this deep understanding of the Charlotte ROVAL help the 29-year-old, recently turned father-of-three win his first-ever career Cup Series road course race come Sunday? The odds may be low. But there are few things as dangerous as a motivated Chase Briscoe.