Phoenix winners and losers

A look at the winners and losers following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway…

Chase Briscoe: Briscoe finally capitalized on all the speed his No. 14 Ford has shown in each of the opening three races. After a third-place finish in the Daytona 500, Briscoe placed 16th at Auto Club and 35th at Las Vegas, wrecked out on lap 135. Briscoe managed to lead a career-high 101 laps Sunday en route to his first career Cup win. Briscoe had never led more than 20 laps in a race in 39 prior starts. The sophomore driver sits tied for fourth in points with Kyle Larson and behind Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott.

Ross Chastain: Chastain is getting closer and closer to putting his No. 1 Chevrolet on top of the leaderboard by the time the checkered flag waves. Chastain didn’t lead Sunday and spent much of his day in the back half of the top 10, as evidenced by his 8.7 average running position per NASCAR’s loop data statistics. But his car improved throughout the day, and by the final two restarts was a legitimate threat to Briscoe. Posting a second-place finish after placing third a week ago in Vegas is a great boost of momentum to end the West Coast Swing.

Kurt Busch: Where was Kurt Busch all race long? Well, largely outside the top 10. Busch averaged a 15.55 running position, but track position and correct lane choice on the final two restarts launched Busch into a fifth-place finish, his first top five of the season and first with 23XI Racing. The No. 45 Toyota should be running better than it has — and the same can be said for nearly all six Toyotas despite Kyle Busch’s near-win at Vegas — but a top-five finish is a good way to mask some of those performance problems.

Chris Buescher: Buescher was far from a