Chase Briscoe escapes big wreck to win race, championship in Kansas
Chase Briscoe wrapped up his first ARCA Racing Series championship with his sixth win of the season Friday night at the Kansas ARCA 150 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
Briscoe dominated the first half of the race, but then was involved in a hairy restart on Lap 50 which led to a multi-car wreck. Briscoe worked his way back up into second and then took the lead and the win when mechanical issues plagued the leader with 24 laps to go.
After rain washed out qualifying and the field was set by owner points, Briscoe led the field away for the first of 100 laps Friday night under the lights.
Dalton Sargeant settled into second behind him but, on Lap 7, he lost power coming out of Turn 2. Sargeant was able to get his car re-fired, but now found himself the last car on the lead lap.
However, Sargeant was able to take advantage of the situation when the first caution of the race flew on Lap 13 as the No. 73 of Dale Shearer spun off of Turn 4.
Since he was at the tail-end of the lead lap, Sargeant elected to pit under the early caution.
On Lap 42, the second caution of the race flew when Brandon Jones’ right-rear tire went down after he had been running in third position. This brought all of the leaders down pit road but, instead of former race leader Briscoe leading them out of the pits, it was Sargeant, using strategy, who found himself winning the race off of pit road in his No. 55 Toyota. Sargeant did get into the back of Josh Williams’ No. 6 Chevrolet exiting his stall, but was able to continue without much damage.
On the Lap 50 restart, Sargeant ensured that he pinned Briscoe down in Turns 1 and 2, trying to win the race out of the turn.
Briscoe got loose and dropped back through the field. This jumbled things up in the middle of the pack, leading to a four-wide situation as the drivers entered Turn 3. Briscoe made contact with the No. 22 machine of Myatt Snider, sending Snider off into a spin. As the cars reacted behind him, the No 10 of Kyle Weatherman got turned into Snider, triggering a multi-car incident that brought out the red flag. Weatherman took several hard hits. While he was alert and conscious, Weatherman was transported by ground to a local hospital for further evaluation.
One of the drivers who continued after the incident was Gus Dean, although he did make substantial contact with the outside wall. Shortly after the restart it bit him, when his right-front tire went down and he hit the wall hard, bringing out the fourth caution of the race on Lap 58.
When the field went back to green for the final time, Briscoe quickly moved back up into second position. He was closing in on race leader Sargeant with 24 laps to go when Sargeant lost power again, handing the lead back to Briscoe in Turn 1.
Austin Cindric was closing in on Briscoe in the closing stages, and finished just one second back of the newly-crowned champion, while Michael Self finished in a solid third place after starting 26th. Despite his tire issue, Brandon Jones was still able to bring the No. 8 machine home in fourth, while Noah Gragson rounded out the top five.
Unofficial race results:
1. Chase Briscoe
2. Austin Cindric
3. Michael Self
4. Brandon Jones
5. Noah Gragson
6. Matt Kurzejewski
7. John Wes Townley
8. Shane Lee
9. Tom Hessert
10. Mason Mitchell
Good morning everyone. Blessed to be alright, thankful God was with everyone involved last night. pic.twitter.com/dZzVYEyTvh
— Kyle Weatherman (@KyleWeatherman) October 15, 2016
