Chase Briscoe offers candid insight into Toyota's Kansas failure and the fine line between teamwork and survival

Chase Briscoe has highlighted what went wrong for Toyota at Kansas Speedway ahead of the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas. The second race of the last NASCAR Cup Series playoff round at Kansas ended in overtime and surprise.

Chase Elliott stole the win after a frantic two-lap shootout. Toyota had five cars inside the top 10 for much of the final stage, yet the manufacturer walked away without the victory.

During an interview in Vegas, Briscoe commented on that and shared how the other OEMs would have driven the same way. He also talked about the fine line between looking out for the championship spot and helping teammates.

"If it was rolled reverse, I don't think Chevy or Ford would have done anything different, either. It's just nature of the beast of how these restarts go and the circumstances, and just everything lined up kind of perfectly for the 9 [Elliott] there to kind of steal one from all of us. .... We didn't really talk about it, truthfully. It was a bummer, for sure, but I don't really know what else we could have done different," Chase Briscoe said (2:59 onwards).

Technical trouble and pit timing also hurt Toyota's edge. Denny Hamlin's No. 1 Toyota lost power steering late, and a slow pit stop cost track position. He then raced Bubba Wallace hard during the final laps, which gave Elliott the perfect opportunity to slip past the finish line first.

"At the end of the day, you're always looking out for yourself, right? But you try to do things to help your teammates and, help your manufacturer. It's just hard. If it's a green white checkered, like, there's nothing you can really do," he added.

The South Point 400 is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday (October 12). Briscoe qualified in second and will start the race from the front row beside Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin.

Chase Briscoe confident to join 'elite company' this season

Chase Briscoe has qualified for the Round of 8, holding on to the second last spot above Joey Logano. He has just one top-10 finish in nine starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but has consistent results at the two other tracks of this round, Talladega and Martinsville.

"I feel confident that we can make the Championship. It's definitely an elite company," Chase Briscoe said, via Toby Christie's official website.

However, the 30-year-old is the only playoff driver who has not reached the Championship 4 and will have to beat other experienced drivers to reach the final four.

Logano, for instance, has two wins at the 1.5-mile oval in the last three years, three career wins at Talladega, and no finish outside the top-10 at Martinsville in the past five years.

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Edited by Hitesh Nigam