CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Chase Briscoe won the first of two big NASCAR races on the new "roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Briscoe grabbed his first career Xfinity Series victory Saturday on the hybrid track of speedway and road course.
Briscoe beat Justin Marks, a part-time NASCAR racer who said this week this race is his last one dabbling in these cars.
Briscoe won in a Ford fielded by Stewart-Haas Racing in the leadup to Sunday's critical Cup playoff race.
Saturday was also a playoff race for NASCAR's second-tier Xfinity Series but these drivers were really the testers for the big show, the Cup race. Four drivers will be eliminated from the playoffs Sunday and it will be in part of the difficulty of the roval, an odd layout causing headaches for the Cup drivers.
The Xfinity Series raced first and the second league series didn't seem to have as many explosive accidents as the Cup stars.
And Briscoe, who had not even sniffed a victory in his 13 previous races, said he treated the roval as if it was a dirt track. The Indiana native praised team co-owner Tony Stewart for both the opportunity and for being his role model in relying on their dirt backgrounds to attack a unique track."
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