By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
Chase Briscoe vs. Noah Gragson: A matchup between close friends
HAMPTON, Ga. – Before last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway, Chase Briscoe was part of a small minority of drivers keeping a close eye on potential seeding for the In-Season Challenge, which starts Saturday night with the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway (7 p.m. ET on TNT, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The standings before the Pocono race would have paired Briscoe against fellow Toyota driver Tyler Reddick, a matchup the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota said he would prefer to avoid.
“Right now, I’d go against Tyler if it started this weekend,” Briscoe said at the time. “I’m hoping that changes, because Tyler… I think he’s seeded like 22nd right now, and he’s one of the top five guys in the sport.
“So, it would be a tough Round 1, but honestly, the seeding is tough because at Atlanta anybody could be hard to beat. I feel like at Atlanta you don’t want to go against somebody in your manufacturer (group), because you’re all normally on the same strategy.”
Briscoe, of course, claimed his first victory of the season later that afternoon and dramatically altered his position in the In-Season Challenge bracket. With the win, he earned the second seed behind Michigan winner Denny Hamlin and will face Front Row Motorsports’ Noah Gragson in the first round of the inaugural tournament.
Interestingly, Gragson is the favorite driver of Briscoe’s 3-year-old son Brooks.
He’s also one of Briscoe’s closest friends and may prove as formidable an opponent as Reddick would have been.
“Honestly, I feel like here at a superspeedway, we’ve seen how good the Fords are, and going against a Ford here is certainly a hard challenge,” Briscoe said. “This is one of those race tracks that, no matter what team you are with, you kind of have a shot to go and win.
“It’s no secret, right? Noah is not at one of the powerhouse teams, but when he comes here, he can be right here in the mix. Front Row (Motorsports) cars qualified on the front row here last year, so it will be a challenge.”
Brad Keselowski isn’t satisfied with RFK’s recent strong performances
In last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway, all three Roush Fenway Keselowski drivers finished in the top 10, with Chris Buescher leading the way in fourth and Ryan Preece and team co-owner Brad Keselowski running eighth and ninth, respectively.
Two weeks earlier, at Michigan International Speedway, the three RFK drivers all posted top-10 results, with Buescher finishing second to Denny Hamlin, Preece running ninth and Keselowski 10th.
Despite those recent consistent results, however, Keselowski isn’t satisfied. Given the positions of the three drivers in the standings, there’s no substitute for winning races.
“We’ve had some really strong races where you don’t get the results, and it’s kind of frustrating, but we’re on a good path,” Keselowski said. “We want wins. Strong showings like that are great, and you’d like to think that we’re paying some dues in order to get the wins that we really need, but they’re not wins.
“I’m very optimistic that we can turn that into something with the weeks we have in front of us, but until then it doesn’t matter. With the way this format is we don’t get any bonus for top 10s. It’s all about the wins, but still it’s not a bad problem to have. A lot of reasons for optimism. All three teams have shown some bright spots.”
Currently 30th in the Cup Series standings, Keselowski almost certainly will need a win in the next nine races to qualify for the Playoffs. Buescher and Preece both are on the Playoff bubble—Buescher 38 points above the current cut line and Preece 20 points below.
Christopher Bell is realistic about return to EchoPark Speedway
In the aftermath of his February victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway—before the name change to EchoPark Speedway—Christopher Bell was first to admit the win was unexpected.
“Frankly, Atlanta Motor Speedway was not one we had circled,” Bell said after ending a Joe Gibbs Racing dry spell that dated to June 2024 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The Atlanta win was the first of three straight for the driver of the No. 20 Toyota, who followed with triumphs at the Circuit of the Americas road course and Phoenix Raceway.
Bell hasn’t won since the race in Phoenix, and he’s not brimming with confidence as the NASCAR Cup Series returns to EchoPark for Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 (7 p.m. ET on TNT, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“Atlanta’s going to be tough,” Bell said. “It’s hard to pick a favorite going through Atlanta with it being a superspeedway-style race. I think you’re going to see a lot of upsets in week one of the in-season tournament. Get through that one and see who’s left standing.
“I’m as optimistic as you can get. Atlanta—you’re going to Vegas. So, we’ll go roll the dice and see what happens.”
Bell is seeded fourth in the In-Season Challenge and will face No. 29 seed Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the opening round at the 1.54-mile speedway. It’s one of the first round’s most intriguing matchups, given that Stenhouse is at his best on drafting tracks.
