CONCORD, N.C. — Chase Briscoe and the No. 19 team have cut into Kyle Larson's lead over the past two weeks, but they aren't satisfied. They want to go for the jugular.
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"I think we've got to step on their throats while we can," crew chief James Small said on Sunday after celebrating a win at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "You've got to keep winning. It's still a big gap.
"If (the No. 5 team) are just consistent and score the points they need to, even if we go and win the next three, it's still very hard to close that gap. Yeah, I'm not going to let off the throttle pedal right now."
Briscoe entered the Chase as the sixth seed. he was within striking distance of then-leader Denny Hamlin, but he did not remain in this position through the first four races of the Chase.
Briscoe finished sixth at Darlington, but he finished 32nd and 27th in the next two races. This dropped him to eighth in the standings and seemingly out of contention for the championship.
The Indiana native finished fourth at Kansas Speedway after losing the lead late to Kyle Larson, who had taken the points lead at the time. He scored 40 points, but he remained eighth in the standings and 123 points behind Larson.
Briscoe said at the time that he needed to go on a Tony Stewart-style run in order to have a shot at the Cup Series championship. He needed to win about five of the remaining six races.
He then held off Larson to win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway before beating Christopher Bell in a photo finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
These two wins were worth 75 and 68 points, respectively, and they bumped Briscoe to fourth in the standings. He is now 65 points back.
Not a small hurdle to overcome, but a much better situation than two weeks ago. Although it does not help the situation that Larson and the No. 5 team have finished fifth, first, second, first, second, and sixth in the six Chase races.
"I mean, you can step on their throat," Briscoe said. "You can be a nice guy though outside of the race car. In the race car, I believe you have to be a killer. And yeah, I think for us, that's the whole approach, right? Is just going and, I mean, just trying to dominate races.
"I mean, that's like I was saying earlier. That's the only way you're going to cut into the gap is by winning races. If you just run second or third, and Larson runs second or third with you, like you're not going to gain 65 points in four weeks."
Small acknowledges that Bell isn't exactly a throat stepper on the surface. He is a lowkey, quiet guy. Yet, the veteran crew chief has no doubt that Briscoe can go out and deliver as the pressure only increases.
"Dude, he puts his helmet on and he's silent, but he's like a silent assassin," Small said about Briscoe.
"He may not show it on the outside, but I know deep down he wants to win as bad as us. We've been on his ass to make sure that he hates finishing second as much as we do."
