NASCAR star Chase Briscoe was left feeling very frustrated at Sonoma on Sunday after missing out on taking a Cup Series victory despite having a better car than the eventual race winner.
The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota came home in second position in the end, but brought the fight to victor Shane van Gisbergen in the closing laps of the race and challenged him for the win.
The battle went right down to the wire, but van Gisbergen was able to do just enough to hold on for the victory, meaning Briscoe's wait for a Cup Series win this season goes on.
Second place does match the JGR star's best finish of the season, though. However, that didn't appear to matter much when he cut a frustrated figure at Sonoma post-race, ruing a missed opportunity.
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Chase Briscoe reacts to SvG battle at Sonoma
"It was odd. Not very many people get that close to him at the end of one of these road course races," Briscoe said post-race at Sonoma when asked about his battle with van Gisbergen.
"Yeah, just frustrated with myself. I felt like I definitely had the better car. I didn’t do as good of a job as he did driving. I just made a mistake with, like, three or four to go getting into one.
"I was having to push so hard, and that was where I would make up my ground. It was just such a razor’s edge, and I about crashed. Gave up a call to second, and then I was able to obviously run him back down at the end. If I don’t make that mistake, I’m probably ahead of him I feel like at the end.
"So, yeah, just bummed that at the end of the day it was my fault we didn’t win, but amazing car. James and the group just did an amazing job. I had a super-fast Columbia Bank Toyota.
"Frustrated I didn’t win with the best car. Against that guy, you got to be absolutely perfect."
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