NASCAR Cup playoff field set after Chase Briscoe's emphatic Darlington win | Motorsports on NBC

[Music] [Applause] Chase how much of this was for you and how much of this was for the 300 plus employees at Stewart hos who don't have a job at the end of the year both last week was the most embarrassing race ever ran in my life and I told Richard I said I don't even want to talk about it I promise you I will make it up to you next week and just uh man I everybody knows I'm a DI Tony Stewart fan and to get this 14 car back in Victory Lane and uh you know for all 320 something employees to to be able to race for a championship in their final year it's a man unbelievable so yeah God is just so good it's uh it's like dja Vu there at the end with Kyle with the xity RS here in 2020 and I was so loose I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it but yeah just can't think highpoint.com Mander tractors Rush Truck Centers uh Rai uh Zep just everybody that uh makes us Ste go around and go to Atlanta and try to uh steal another one what does it say about you and the entire 14 team that you never number one gave up but never number two never quit on each other yeah it's just this group I mean the day that we found out that you know the team wasn't going to exist anymore we went over to the shop floor and we all looked at each other and said we're in this to the end we're not going to give up and we had we kept saying all week we got one bullet left in the chamber and that uh that bullet hit Kyle Bush was catching you was that the hardest you've driven in your entire life yeah I was sideways counter steering felt like I was in a Sprint car so yeah just uh yeah uh this night just literally went perfect you know the Picker did an incredible job and uh I was crying like after the Checker I just won the southern 500 this is a Crown Jewel and what makes this race so special is all you race fans every time we come here it's sold out it's awesome and uh we love you guys and last time I went here was during Co so I didn't get experience with the fans so grateful that you guys are here and uh yeah can't wait to celebrate for a driver who loves the history of racing this one means a lot on so many levels for Chase Brisco now a playoff participant Dave Kyle your team gave you the fresher rubber did you think that'd be enough um yeah I did when I made it through a few of those guys right there on the start I thought we'd have a shot to get there and I think I just needed him to have maybe three or four more laps older tires for uh for me to be able to break through the Wake once I got within his air um I really I really didn't have enough to uh to power through that to get closer I was kind of sliding already so um hat it for our guys everybody on our team um everybody at RCR and this Morgan and Morgan Chevrolet they turned it around the last uh four or five weeks and and we've run a lot better and that's been much uh improved and and beneficial to our team and the organization so um something to build on and and get better for you know we just missed a lot in the early part of the year and through the middle part of the year to uh to put ourselves in this spot to be on the outside looking in so um to come in here for a last ditch effort and um and have a shot I mean early in the race I wouldn't have thought we had a shot so felt like we really overachieved there towards the end and and got a really good finish for for what what we had or what I thought we had and uh we'll take it and and keep building on it it's kind of a tale of two seasons right because you had legitimate shots the last month or so in Atlanta yeah um you know so it's um yeah it's just short you know come up short and um you know maybe I'm a wash up old dog but um hopefully I can find a few more trophies I think not but I think you'll be looking for that Victory to keep the streak alive in the last 10 races here right yeah no doubt I mean that's you know I I wanted it last week I wanted it this week I wanted it in Atlanta I wanted it in Vegas you know there's been a lot of opportunities Daytona 500 we were up front all day so um I I can count them you know at least on on a hand Maybe need two hands to count opportunities that have slipped away so uh we're achieving right now and and getting success from Those runs and and pulling in the finishes that we need it's a good look from the eight right now too bad they couldn't capitalize tonight guys Chris busher will come home in the sixth position a solid finish unfortunately not the day you needed with a new winner you'll be the first guy outside the playoff picture will not run for a title you guys had to overcome so much today how would you summarize your Southern 500 yeah just uh I don't know we felt like we did what uh for the most part we needed to do today and um you know got back uh Got Back In Contention there at the end and um got a decent finish out of it and uh just uh didn't didn't quite get it done again and uh now we uh we're on the outside look it in so unfortunately it's just the system we're all playing in and um you know we had such a great year uh everyone RK has worked so hard we've been so fast we've outrun uh so many of these cars that uh that are going to get run for a championship but that's that's the system and um we didn't we didn't work it right when I talked to your crew chief Scott Graves earlier today regardless of what you did in this race you said he felt like you guys could do some damage in the last 10 races what is the approach to the final 10 and what are your goals yeah it's not on my mind yet um yeah I just uh had a lot of things figured out and um you know that's that's not it now so uh get back digest this one a little bit uh such a shame but you know another great run for our build submarines decom Mustang uh another great finish here at Darlington just uh not enough with with new winner and um yeah just crazy so uh definitely going to think back on different times throughout the year and um you know figure out how to do better next time how do you sum up the emotion in one word it's just it's frustration and and disbelief all together the weekend started out so well for Bubba Wallace that new winner thing caught up with you guys at the end but there was a little chaos the second half of this race what was going on yeah we just uh got behind on adjustments we were back and forth on our um US Air Force Toyota Camry just a little too loose a little too tight and uh that caution um with a couple Laps on tires where we stayed out I don't know if that was the deciding factor but um we just got so tight there and got back there in traffic and a spot haven't been all day and uh I got caught up in someone else's mess so unfortunate I hate it for our guys but uh man hats off to the 14 um I thought I did something yesterday they they won up us and and showed up when it was game time so that's uh that's pretty badass so congrats to them uh man just uh wasn't good enough for 16th this year hate that uh stay saying that but uh wasn't from a lack of effort from all of us on this 23 car so best of luck to 45 and hopefully a Toyota wins how do you evaluate overall getting to this point and especially bringing it like you guys did this weekend tomorrow's Labor Day right so got to sit and dwell on hopefully no meetings but uh you got four or five days reset and go on to where we go next I don't even know shows how mental this race was so we'll be fine Tyler reick comes home in the 10th position but more importantly gets the regular season championship by a single point before we dive into what that means for the team it was a heck of a day for you you were battling some illness in the race car how in the world did you maintain the focus needed to get that regular season Championship I don't really know if I did honestly just things things fell our way there at the end uh yeah I I don't know I started the day off feeling really really good and just you know kind of trying to take my time to get around Bubba and you know him and him and the five kind of jumped us on that first cycle and thought we were you know long race we had plenty of time plenty capable and just man I mean by the end of stage one I I couldn't really focus on what to tell the guys to to do on our prector to Camry so it was just it was frustrating man we you know we had that buffer over the over the five and I just watched it disappear all day long and I trying everything I can to to to drive this car as fast as I can it's just it was just a real struggle honestly I I don't have anything left nothing left but as we look forward to the playoffs you guys have been so consistent recently and now you've got 15 additional points in the playoff Bank what does that mean for this team and what they can do during the playoffs yeah it's huge for us um it's a bummer man this was this has been one of my best tracks and and we just we had an all around off night I hate that um like I said I hate we had to use that buffer up that that we had coming in here but um I mean this is what this team's kind of all about I feel like this is the worst night we've had in in in months and months um speed wise um and we still finished 10th and it was kind of an allout struggle for us so just really proud of everybody on this team staying behind me I couldn't give great feedback and it was just really really hard to focus and keep it out of the wall there all night so um Shane we gave some points up you know I feel like this race we could win but it's really nice to and uh year two for me here at this team and year four of this team for us to to get the regular season championship like we did congrats thank you Kyle lson will come home in the fourth position had a dominant race car here today LED 263 laps fell short of the regular season Championship though by one point as you look back on this race do you do anything differently that final stage um I think where just got a little bit uh sideways for for myself was when Ross stayed out I wasn't really expecting that and um then yeah I chose the bottom and he did a good job and got clear me and kind of pinched my air off into one and then the 54 was on my right side and then I was just stalled down the backstretch and and Chase got a a great run to get by all of us so um yeah I just wish I would have maybe executed the restart Zone a little bit better there and maybe the rest of the race plays out differently but um you know I I had the points on my mind you know knowing how close we were with reic and the great day we had going and the kind of average day he had going I just I just didn't want to get overly aggressive and uh take myself out of it too so um bummer that you know we came up with a point short but we still you got the owner's side of it so that that's always good that's what pays pays the uh the check at the end of the year so but hopefully you know I can make it through each round as well as the car so um yeah just proud of my team proud of the pit crew today and proud of the race car despite not winning the regular season Championship as things are reeded for the playoffs you are the number one seed with the most bonus points what does that mean for you guys especially as you work your way through the first round which is kind of a wild card yeah it is um yeah I mean you work hard all all year long to get stage wins get race wins to position yourself well in the playoffs um to you know not necessarily allow yourself a mistake but you know I I saw I think where we're 35 points above the cut line right now so that that's nice I mean especially when you go to a track as scary as Atlanta but they could be wiped out you know in an instant I could be below the cut line after Atlanta that's just kind of the craziness of of the system so yeah just uh keep doing what we've been doing you our car has been really fast and our team's been executing great so just uh keep it up and and hopefully we can advance on through should be fun to watch Kyle lson and this five team go for their second cup series title plus 12 at the end of the day for Tai Gibbs and after what happened late in the race there can you believe it not really I was really unfortunate or really confused why I just got try to get wrecked in three or four and then went and got plugged in the wall and one so I don't I don't know you know what was going on with with the people I was racing around was unfortunate um you know I I I'm just upset right now I wish we could have ran better I really love this track and have so much fun racing here our car was so good we wish we could have finished better but most importantly we made the playoffs and that's what we came here to do and um we we accomplished that so um you know I'm very happy for be able to make it and we'll go see what we can do in 10 weeks I was going to say based on what you know inside and out with the 54 team how deep a run can this team make uh we'll see um we got to get through next week first so uh Atlanta is a tough one but I feel like we're really strong in the races for the rest of the season and we'll see what we can do and go out there and give it our best shot out of the 10 got a couple Circle that you like best uh I'd love to win at all of them Fair answer Ty Gibbs in the playoffs so the playoffs are a no for Ross Chastain by 33 points but it wasn't for not trying and especially that strategy at the end the staying out strategy was that the watermelon call almost worked yeah uh nine laap old tires and staying out at Arlington that's pretty scary but uh no I it was the right call and and it was it was the call and the for the cards we had to try to get a good restart and I got a great launch I can't even usually get those good that good of launches for our Bush heavy when I have equal tires Dave so to get that clear into one clear off a two I was like okay this is going okay and then turn three they all blew by so uh ultimately it kept us out of that big crash it kept us uh in a spot to pit from fourth uh or right there behind the eight uh and pit with those guys and um set ourselves up for a good shot um you know for the speed and the balance we had early in the race we definitely made it better um and it's kind of the of our motto we we just tend to make our cars better we just want to we want to show up to these weekends a little bit better well and how do you take the next 10 weekends then because obviously that's it's a couple of things it's trying to get the W's and it's preparation for next year how do you approach it yourself I don't know if it's right or wrong but me I get out of the car and I watch the 14 celebrate and let that sink in and hurt uhz it is disappointing and it does hurt and look down the line and look at the playoff cards and just take some mental images of that and let that fuel some fire um inside of me and inside of our team and and how we keep going because it it does hurt but a little hurts good every now and then and not that I want to be out of the playoffs but um we don't we don't stop and and I do it my own way and uh I'm not too down about it I I'm not happy about it by any means but uh for track house and in our group we'll um we'll wake up tomorrow the sun will come up tomorrow and we will go to Walkin SP Christopher bell comes home in the third position tonight but we kick off the playoffs next week summarize your and the 20 team's regular season and what the strengths were headed into the playoffs well the uh the regular season was just like mountains it was the tallest of tall and then all the way to the bottom there so got to clean that up got to get a little bit more consistency um but the strengths is obviously the car speed and the potential in our team so I feel like everywhere we go we're uh a a contender we can be a contender if everyone does their jobs so if we can eliminate our lows I think we've got everything we need to go for a title run here Denny Hamlin comes home in the seventh position but as we look at the next 10 races what do you feel like you and the team need to overcome in order to take home your first title um not a whole lot really uh just got to execute races and um you know just win you know I think that's uh the key in the P playoffs is is is winning so you don't kind of put yourself in a bad point position uh with kind of some some of the crazy tracks that we've got in the playoffs this year you know it's it's going to try to avoid those you know 25th or worst place finishes that's going to be the key for us 11th tonight for Chase Elliott this Southern 500 how would you describe it a very poor I we got a a gift you know to finish to finish where we did a bunch of gifts but um yeah obviously excited to have that one over with and looking forward to getting the you know getting the playoffs started these next 10 or uh they're intense you know so we're going to have to myself and and our entire Napa team we're going to hit the reset button in a in a big way because um you know tonight was was pretty bad uh truthfully so yeah go to Atlanta and um try to get things rolling in the right direction and uh see where we end up there's no track like this so is the reset on all tracks or certain ones what do you think well just glad we're not coming back here next week for sure so uh uh man I I got to I got to figure something out here it's been it's been a struggle but nonetheless um you know excited to get these next 10 St there are some good tracks in there for us so I'm excited to get to those and uh you know try to make the most of the ones that you know are are places that we've struggled at you got you got to figure out how to get over those humps uh at some point um and I would you know I would love to tackle that uh you know this year so we're going to work really hard these next 10 and and try to um you know bring everything we got and and hopefully it'll be it'll be enough when it's all said and done going for Championship number two for Daniel sorz it was the Atlanta win earlier this season that got him locked into the playoffs and the playoffs kickoff at Atlanta so how optimistic are you in the team headed into next week very optimistic you know obviously starting the playoffs in Atlanta is always pretty sweet but uh in reality the 99 team has got has got uh some some good things going our way the last couple months you know we have built some good energy some good momentum uh we have had a good Stak of top 10 good good speed in some RAC track we just continue to get better so I'm very excited uh to see what we can do over the first round we have a atana which is a hybrid no no and a half no supered and then we have a rod C so the first couple rounds are a little crazy so I think I think if we execute we clean a couple thing we're going to have a pretty good shot at it as you heard Daniel say this team continuing to build oh by the way he finished the southern 500 all 500 Miles without a cool suit here tonight so Joe Lano studies the board a little bit I know you'd like to be a little bit higher in the finishing order there what was going on with your night H it's just a long one it's a southern 500 and uh I don't know starting where we were we kind of the goal was just kind of pick them off one or two at a time and you know methodically slowly move our way through the field and we were doing that and we got ourselves into the top 10 looking pretty good and had some issues on Pit Road I'm not exactly sure we exactly what happened yeah I think we had a maybe a cross thread of nut or something and couple issues after that so uh towards the two-thirds point of the race we kind of fell apart for a second but then we cleaned it back up for the end there and got a top 10 out of it at least so um not quite uh what we wanted with the sh pensel Mustang but at least we recovered and got something decent out of it and uh look I don't want you get hit but uh yeah we'll move on to the playoffs and um give her a run for our money see if we can get down there to Championship four let's talk a little playoffs from a former champion who I look around I see some teammates uh I know there's another teammate that's not around here right now crashed out early I mean as an organization got strength going in don't you yeah it's nice to have all our cars and you having four in there right even with the the Wood Brothers car which we you know is pretty much under our roof here so um yeah it's nice to have them all in there uh it's game time now right this is the the time to shine and um you know the cream always Rises at the top through the playoffs so got to be able to um execute through all these races got to go fast through them the first round is obviously pretty crazy uh with the R tracks that are involved there so um you know it's no it's no smooth ride from here it's not a simple simple way of getting there so um got to be solid here we don't have a whole bunch of playoff points on our side but we got a couple wish we had five more from a couple weeks ago but uh we'll fire away and see what we got first things first I had to look down a little bit to find you in the que tonight what happened on track yeah we just missed it for sure we we struggled um had some opportunities to overcome it and then had some more issues so um big bummer definely uh I it's super frustrating right to come here and run that bad I feel like we struggled in the spring but we executed really well and we were able to to get out of here with a good finish and um we weren't any better tonight and we didn't execute very well either so um back to the drawing board for this place for sure but obviously the five was really good so we'll be able to go back and and lean on them and and try to be better for when we come back next time what about your playoff run starting in Atlanta next week yeah for sure we we got to get our stuff together it's been a rough month so um you know excited for the Ali 48 team to be back in the playoffs but at the same time we have a long way to go after how we performed for the last month so Atlanta kind of is uh is probably going to be pretty wild right but um the rest of it uh we got to I mean Atlanta too we got to be on our aame for all of it so um just got to go execute Austin syndric is in the playoffs and I'm sure looking forward to it Atlanta starting next week what's your kind of your playoff look as the twocc car goes forward I mean I feel like we're playing with house money man I mean it's an awesome some opportunity to be in the playoffs and um you know I think tonight's a perfect example there's some seriously good cars teams and drivers uh that that aren't in it so being able to sneak some stage points in is is going to be huge but but also just not having blowups you know we had a couple blowups tonight and that put us back and we had to rally for 500 miles at the toughest RAC track on the schedule to to get back to pretty much where we started um but I feel like the first two races of the playoffs are two races that we can honestly win you know with with Atlanta in Watkins Glenn so um we are capable of doing those things um but uh yeah still some stuff to clean up but um really excited to do it with the guys a lot of first-time playoff guys on my team um so yeah put our best foot forward and um yeah have a have a great time with it were you guys able to since the win just kind of band together and and work on things that maybe you wouldn't have focused on if you weren't already in the playoffs I'll be honest I feel like that's been my my mentality and and kind of my narrative with my guys all year you know I I've I've told them even good days and bad don't be afraid to fail and that's been that's been myo since Daytona the start of the season and that's worked for us it hasn't worked for us but we've learned our own lessons we've been able to get to this point in the season obviously with a win but but also um I feel like I've learned more as a driver in the last six months than I than I have probably in the last two years of racing cup so um I'm proud of everyone on the team and um stick to the process but uh um yeah now now's Now's the Time to uh to to absolutely be perfect and execute and do the things that this team's expected to do yeah that kind of a six-month progression could take Austin centrick a long way in the playoffs guys and Harrison Burton comes home in the 21st position but more importantly you were part of the playoffs from that win last weekend at Daytona I said are you still on a high you said nope Darlington humbled you quickly how do you get into the mindset to go for a title run starting next week yeah it's exciting you know I I think you just are in the mindset now right is um I'm able to stay and do these interviews this year and hang out and uh talk about my playoff run so it's really exciting uh thank you Austin uh it's a good teammate right there but uh no I mean it's just it's really cool just um you know and if if this wouldn't get us focused and locked in I don't know what would so got an opportunity of a lifetime going into Atlanta we've got to make the most of it and um just excited to try and uh try and do that should be fun to watch Harrison Burton go for his first playoff appearance hi I'm Parker cerman for more access like this from Pit Road be sure to click and subscribe to the Motorsports at NBC YouTube channel