Chase Briscoe's nervous reaction reveals playoff anxiety at New Hampshire

Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe has addressed how stage points often decide who advances further in the playoffs ahead of the first Round of 12 race on Sunday (September 21). The No. 19 Toyota driver qualified 18th for the Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday and shared that many ahead of him may have already locked in those extra points.

Briscoe sits sixth in the playoff standings, 10 points above the cutoff. He finished inside the top ten in the previous Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway to stay above the cutoff line.

Before the New Hampshire race on Sunday, he talked about the challenges of starting in the middle with NASCAR reporter Dustin Long.

"The hard thing is just the playoffs are all about stage points, man. It's really where you make or break it. And a lot of those guys that we're already ahead of in points, they all qualified up front. So the odds of them getting stage points are pretty extreme. So, yeah, I don't know, we just gotta try to go forward," Chase Briscoe said.

Briscoe has six pole positions so far this season, but his qualifying lap of 29.511 seconds (129.064 mph) this weekend placed him 18th, way below Ryan Blaney, who is ahead of him in points at 5th place. The Team Penske driver and his teammate, Joey Logano, grabbed the first and second starting positions.

"I don't know what the key is of driving through the field starting 18 cuz I've never truthfully done it here before. ... I know our car will be better. It's just a matter of trying to see what guys do. And as the lanes kind of progress and widen out, just trying to find a place where your car works," Briscoe dadded.

Three of the other playoff drivers ahead of Briscoe in the playoff standings, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Larson, also qualified better in fifth, ninth, and 16th place.

Chase Briscoe is hopeful for rain at New Hampshire

Chase Briscoe has two top-10 finishes at the 1.06-mile oval in New England. Last year, he started and finished second behind JGR teammate Christopher Bell. Rain delays forced the race to stop for over two hours, and he raced on wet-weather tires after the delay.

Since Briscoe handled the wet conditions well, the 30-year-old is hoping for rain during the race, even if it's not in the forecast.

"So hopefully it'll rain tomorrow. ... If it rained, I feel really good about it," Chase Briscoe said (via NASCAR.com).

Briscoe has two wins this season, with three consecutive top-10 finishes in the first three playoff races at Darlington, Gateway, and Bristol. He also won at Darlington after standing in second place and qualified in third place at Gateway before finishing second behind Hamlin.

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Edited by Sumeet Kavthale