Chase Briscoe reveals why he wasn’t ‘really worried’ about Tyler Reddick pass in closing laps at Darlington

Chase Briscoe won the Southern 500 at Darlington on Sunday, but he had to fight off Tyler Reddick to earn the victory. While speaking with NASCAR insiders Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck on The Teardown podcast, Briscoe was asked if he was worried that Reddick would pass him in the final laps.

“I wasn’t really worried,” Chase Briscoe said. “In [turns] three and four, as long as you were on the fence, the odds of you getting past were pretty slim. [Reddick] tried it with four to go when he dove down. I was able to kind of pull away.

“My biggest thing is I just didn’t want him to get there in [turns] one and two because that was my real vulnerable spot on the long run. If it was the Round of Eight, I would have been concerned because a chance to lock into the final four, a more aggressive move is probably coming. But when it’s the Round of 16, does Tyler want to win the race? Absolutely. But he knows if he just runs second, that’s a great start for him to lock into the Round of 12. I kind of knew that in the back of my mind that he’s probably not going to be crazy aggressive. I was way more worried about Erik Jones and or John Hunter [Nemechek] getting to second than I was Tyler.”

Chase Briscoe held off Tyler Reddick at Darlington

Tyler Reddick contested Briscoe for the lead during the final 10 laps of the Darlington race, but did not have enough to get his first victory of the year. Briscoe led 309 of 367 laps to win his second consecutive Southern 500 and advance to the Round of the Eight of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Reddick may not have won, but his second-place finish helped him move up in the playoff standings. The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season champion is 35 points above the cut line and in fourth place behind Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Briscoe.

Briscoe, Reddick and the 14 other playoff drivers will continue the road to the championship on Sunday when they compete in the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway (or Gateway Motorsports Park). The race will start at 3 p.m. ET and air on USA.