Chase Briscoe looks to Phoenix to snap struggles

AVONDALE, Ariz. — A year after celebrating his first Cup win, Chase Briscoe returns to Phoenix Raceway looking to turn his season around.

Briscoe is one of seven drivers who have finished 20th or worse in both West Coast races — Auto Club Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway — this season but none of those other drivers made the playoffs last year. 

The other six drivers are Briscoe’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Ryan Preece, rookie Noah Gragson, BJ McLeod, Cody Ware, JJ Yeley and Ty Dillon.

Briscoe has finished no better than 20th this season. He was eliminated by an accident at Daytona, was down on power at Auto Club Speedway and wasn’t a factor last week at Las Vegas. He starts Sunday’s race 24th.

It’s one thing to have a drought in the middle of the season — it can be overshadowed by everything else going on in the sport — but when it happens at the start of the season, the struggles are evident to everyone.

“It’s definitely more challenging at the beginning of the year because obviously you’re amped up and excited to get the season going,” Briscoe said of a poor start to the season. 

“You have all these high expectations. It kind of puts you in a more down mood when it’s at the start of the season versus if it was in the middle of the season because you know you have the win to lean back on (as he did last year). … It’s unfortunate anytime you have a three-race slump, but it definitely gets a lot more attention in the beginning of the year than it would in the middle of June or July.”

Stewart-Haas Racing and the Fords have faced challenges this season, while Chevrolet has won each of the first three races. Kevin Harvick is the only SHR teammate to Briscoe who has finished in the top 10 this season, doing so the