Briscoe Wins in Wild Finish at the Eldora Dirt Derby

Chase Briscoe celebrates after winning the Eldora Dirt Derby
Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Coming to the finish in Wednesday night's Eldora Dirt Derby, you didn't know who was going to win.

With dirt slinging, doors banging and the checkered flag waving, Chase Briscoe edged ThorSport Racing teammate Grant Enfinger to earn his second career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) victory in the sixth annual race at the historic Eldora Speedway.

In a one-off race with ThorSport, Briscoe, on newer tires, took advantage of a Lap 145 restart to pass leader and Toyota Racing Development protégé Logan Seavey, but the event's final caution within three laps of the finish set the tone for the exciting finish in NASCAR overtime.

For Briscoe, a Ford Performance development driver, it was his second straight win after earning his first career victory last November in the Truck Series season finale at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway with Brad Keselowski Racing.

"I know (Enfinger) is running for a championship and he's our teammate," said Briscoe. "I wasn't going to wear him out. I wasn't going to just wreck him for the win. 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.

"I'm so thankful that Ford allowed me to do this race. 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."

Spending much of his childhood in the grandstands of Eldora watching his grandfather compete, Briscoe became emotional talking about the significance of winning in his second Eldora Truck Series start.

"It just means so much to win Eldora," Briscoe said. "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."

Chase Briscoe (27) beats out Grant Enfinger at the finish
Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

After the race, Enfinger said if the roles were reversed, he would raced Briscoe the same way.

"I feel like we had a position on him, we were pretty good right there," said Enfinger. "He used me up and I was going for it, he didn't do anything dirty, it was just the last lap for a really, really big race.

"I really wish we could have gotten a win. I'm glad Duke and Ronda Thorson got a win, I really wish it could have been this No. 98 team. Man, that close. It's a shame. A heartbreaker here, but I'm really proud of the effort here."

Dirt stalwart Stewart Friesen recovered from a Lap 28 spin to finish third while defending Eldora winner Matt Crafton took fourth and three-time NCWTS winner this season Brett Moffitt rounded out the top-five.

Noah Gragson earning his spot into the field through the last-chance-qualifier finished sixth, John Hunter Nemechek claimed seventh, while Seavey who led 53 laps in his debut slipped to eighth on older tires.

"I'm not sure there was much I could've done there," said Seavey. "Right at the beginning of that second stage, you could kind of feel the track was getting a little abrasive and maybe taking a little rubber off the tires. My truck gained a lot of grip there in the second stage and I just slowed down because I knew everybody was going to take tires and I had already taken mine.

"I assumed I had to try to take as much as I could, but at the end of the day, you know we had 50 more laps and I think just overheating the tires and got kind of eaten up there those last couple restarts.

"Overall, (the) experience was as good as I think it could've gone without those last couple cautions there at the end."

RACE RESULTS

Finish Start # Driver Sponsor/Make laps Led Points Status
1 3 27 Chase Briscoe Ford Ford 153 54 0 Running
2 9 98 Grant Enfinger Protect The Harvest Ford 153 1 48 Running
3 5 52 Stewart Friesen We Build America Chevrolet 153 1 35 Running
4 4 88 Matt Crafton Menards/Ideal Door Ford 153 0 40 Running
5 12 16 Brett Moffitt iRacing Toyota 153 0 32 Running
6 27 18 Noah Gragson Safelite AutoGlass Toyota 153 0 31 Running
7 26 8 John Hunter Nemechek Business Machines Company, Inc. Chevrolet 153 0 0 Running
8 7 51 Logan Seavey Mobil 1 Toyota 153 53 46 Running
9 19 24 Justin Haley Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet 153 0 28 Running
10 14 83 Nick Hoffman Chevrolet 153 0 27 Running
11 22 12 Ty Dillon K&L Ready Mix Chevrolet 153 0 0 Running
12 17 38 Max McLaughlin Niece Equipment Chevrolet 153 0 25 Running
13 13 17 Tyler Dippel Hue Jackson Foundation Toyota 153 0 30 Running
14 8 54 Chris Windom Baldwin Brothers/CROSLEY BRANDS Toyota 153 0 36 Running
15 6 99 Sheldon Creed United Rentals Chevrolet 153 0 22 Running
16 29 21 Johnny Sauter Allegiant Chevrolet 153 0 21 Running
17 25 34 Jeffrey Abbey Don Wilde Racecraft Chevrolet 153 0 20 Running
18 11 22 Austin Self GO TEXAN Chevrolet 153 0 27 Running
19 28 20 Tanner Thorson Ohio Logistics Chevrolet 153 0 18 Running
20 15 13 Myatt Snider Drug Mart/Louisiana Hot Sauce Ford 153 0 20 Running
21 21 2 Austin Hill United Rentals Chevrolet 153 0 18 Running
22 2 4 Todd Gilliland JBL.SiriusXM Toyota 153 0 20 Running
23 31 49 Wendell Chavous SobrietyNation.org Chevrolet 153 0 14 Running
24 20 15 JR Heffner A. Colarusso/Upstate Utilities Chevrolet 152 0 13 Running
25 30 45 Justin Fontaine ProMATIC Automation Chevrolet 152 0 12 Running
26 16 80 Justin Shipley Roger's Ford 151 0 11 Running
27 32 25 Dalton Sargeant Performance Plus Motor Oil Chevrolet 151 0 10 Running
28 24 2 Cody Coughlin Coughlin Chevrolet Chevrolet 150 0 9 Running
29 1 41 Ben Rhodes The Carolina Nut Co. Ford 150 44 18 Running
30 10 3 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman VR Experience Chevrolet 149 0 0 Running
31 23 63 Kyle Strickler G-Style Transportation Chevrolet 145 0 6 Accident
32 18 6 Norm Benning Zomongo/H&H Transport Chevrolet 144 0 5 Accident

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