DARLINGTON, S.C.–There’s one huge difference between Chase Briscoe’s approach to the Cook Out Southern 500 last year and his mind-set this year.
The level of expectations is exponentially higher for Sunday’s opening Playoff race at the Lady in Black (6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
For the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, Briscoe believes he has a championship-caliber team.
That wasn’t the case last year when the Southern 500 was the final race in the regular season. Briscoe needed a victory just to make the Playoffs, and after a near-perfect run, he took the checkered flag and qualified for the postseason.
Last year, Briscoe drove for moribund Stewart-Haas Racing. This year, he’s driving the potent No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, an organization that expects to win and compete for championships.
“Last year, nobody expected us (to win), and truthfully, as a race team, we weren’t coming into Darlington and being like ‘This is our weekend,'” Briscoe said. “At SHR (Stewart-Haas), you really couldn’t go to the race track each weekend and say we are going to win this weekend, or we are going to have a shot at it.
“We knew that we would be good, because we had been solid at Darlington, but I don’t think we thought we would have race-winning speed, I would say. So, this (the Playoff race) feels more pressure-packed than a win-or-go-home situation, because we all kind of made up our minds that we were probably going home anyways, and it just so happened that we won the race, and we were in.”
Josh Berry looks for mistake-free performances in first round of Playoffs
In baseball parlance, Josh Berry isn’t looking to hit a grand slam. Three solid singles should do nicely.
That’s Berry’s approach to the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, where Berry believes three well-executed races should be enough to put him in the Round of 12.
“We don’t have to go hit a home run,” Berry said on Saturday morning at Darlington Raceway, site of Sunday’s Playoff-opening Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “We just need to go be solid. I think we feel like three top 10s will be enough points probably to make it to the Round of 12.
“That’s where our head is at, so as long as we keep doing that, there’s not too much to think on until something changes.”
The Playoffs mark a reset of goals for Berry and the No.21 Wood Brothers Racing team. At the start of their first season together, the primary goal was simply to make the Playoffs.
“It’s a big deal,” said Berry, who qualified for the Playoffs by winning the fifth race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “It’s our biggest goal setting out this year. Obviously, to win my first race and if you do that, more than likely, you make the Playoffs, and here we are.
“It’s really cool. It’s been a fun year working with these guys. Everybody at the Wood Brothers has done a really good job. It’s been a lot of fun, and I’m proud of the gains we’ve made with the 21 car compared to the last couple of years, and I feel like we’re set up to keep on doing that.
“Making the playoffs is fun, but, obviously, we want to be competitive and have a good start to this deal.”
A Wood Brothers driver hasn’t advanced past the first round since Ryan Blaney made the Round of 8 in 2017. Matt DiBenedetto was eliminated in the first round in 2020, and Harrison Burton suffered the same fate last year.
Kyle Larson must overcome potential pitfalls in first two Playoff rounds
After a lackluster stretch of races during the summer, top-seeded Kyle Larson enters the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs fresh from back-to-back sixth-place finishes at Richmond Raceway and Daytona International Speedway.
Larson expects to be fast in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Darlington Raceway, one of his best tracks, but there are challenges on the horizon in each of the first two rounds–specifically World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (second race in the Round of 16) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (first race in the Round of 12).
“Yeah, I think still the shorter, flatter tracks (are potential weaknesses), so seeing Gateway and New Hampshire in the Playoffs is not something that I was thrilled about,” Larson acknowledged. “But I do think we’ve made our package better on that style of track. You know, I look at Iowa–we were fast and (Hendrick Motorsports teammate) William (Byron) won.
“Chase (Elliott) was fast. Alex (Bowman) was fast. When we went to Richmond, we were all really good again. Alex finished second, and I think I was in sixth. Chase was probably one of the best cars that night. William was good, as well. I do think we’ve gotten our cars better on those places, but we still need to probably be better. We’ll see when we get to Gateway and New Hampshire.”
In three starts at WWT Raceway, Larson has one top five, a finish of fourth in 2023. At New Hampshire, the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet has posted six top fives in 14 outings, including third- and fourth-place results in his last two races there.
