ROSSBURG – Chase Briscoe grew up a “dirt guy.”
So when he rallied to win the 6th annual NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Dirt Derby 150 on Wednesday night at Eldora Speedway, it truly meant something to him.
“It just means so much to win Eldora,” the Mitchell, Ind. native said soon after taking the checkered flag for his first win this season. “I was growing up as a dirt guy. My grandpa won here and this is our Daytona for dirt guys. This win is for all the dirt guys out there who don’t get a shot. Tonight proves a dirt guy can do it at this level.
“I’m so thankful that Ford allowed me to do this race,” he continued. “I was begging them about three weeks ago to let me do it and it came together at the last minute. It’s awesome to be in Victory Lane.”
The Dirt Derby 150 is run in three stages. The first stage is 40 laps. The second stage if 50 laps and the third and final stage is 60 laps. At the end of the first stage, Briscoe was sitting third behind pole sitter Ben Rhodes (No. 41), who earned the pole position after a quick qualifying time of 20.737 seconds. Logan Seavey (No. 51), who was making his NCWTS race debut Wednesday night, was in second.
Briscoe trailed for part of the second stage but jumped ahead of Grant Enfinger (No. 98) on lap 46 and held that position until the last lap of stage 2. Seavey got out to a huge lead to begin the final 60 laps leading by as much as 4.5 seconds over the second-place driver. But several cautions came out late in the race including one on lap 147 that forced a three-lap overtime race. Briscoe and Enfinger were in the front for the start of the overtime period and Briscoe held off his teammate for the win.
“I know (Enfinger) is running for a championship and he’s our teammate,” Briscoe said. “I wasn’t going to wear him out. I wasn’t going to just wreck him for the win,” Briscoe said. “We rubbed and I definitely let it float on the way to the wall and I’m sorry for that, it’s not how I race.”
Following Briscoe in the top 10 were Enfinger in second place, Stewart Friesen in third, Crafton in fourth, Brett Moffitt in fifth, Noah Gragson in sixth, John Hunter Nemechek in seventh, Seavey in eighth, Justin Haley in ninth and Nick Hoffman in tenth.
For Briscoe, the win is his second in 24 NCWTS races and his first win and second top-10 finish in two races at Eldora Speedway. Prior to the Eldora race, Briscoe competed in the Midwest Open Wheel Association at Tri-State Speedway located in Haubstadt, Ind., where he emerged victorious last Saturday night. It was his first win at Tri-State.