Chase Briscoe pushes for JGR teammate Ty Gibbs securing playoff spot over rival drivers

Chase Briscoe shared the prevailing sentiment at Joe Gibbs Racing as Ty Gibbs fights for a playoff berth in Saturday's Coke Zero Sugar 400. He acknowledged it's 'common sense' to 'push' Gibbs when compared to their rivals but stressed that each JGR teammate is also focused on collecting playoff points for themselves.

Briscoe is coasting off his Pocono win and came close to winning again several times over the last couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Gibbs' best chance came at the Chicago street race, but his efforts fell short of Shane van Gisbergen's road course mastery. Nonetheless, it was Gibb's best result so far at second.

He now hopes for a win at Daytona International Speedway, while the rest of the JGR camp is through to the playoffs. When asked if the team is prepared to help Gibbs on Saturday, Briscoe had this to say (via Youtube/Frontstretch.com, 0:33 onwards),

"We haven't really talked about like, hey look at the end of the race like everything should be trying to help the 54. I think it's common sense, right? If you can push him versus another guy then you definitely need to push him and do everything you can to just let them have the best opportunity, right?"

"But all all three of us are still racing for playoff points and I mean that's a big thing, you know, whether it's winning the race or stage points or whatever," he added.

JGR's Christopher Bell echoed the sentiment in a separate interview. Friday's qualifying was cancelled due to inclement weather, and the starting line-up was decided based on NASCAR's performance metrics. Chase Briscoe landed an eighth-place grid spot, while Ty Gibbs starts further back at 17th.

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Chase Briscoe relates to Bubba Wallace on playoff pressures

Chase Briscoe, who missed out on the playoffs last year at Stewart-Haas Racing, began this year with a promising pole at the Daytona 500, but it wasn't until the 16th round of the season that he could finally clinch a win. Bubba Wallace had to wait much longer to secure his playoff berth.

His Brickyard win snapped a 100-race winless streak as well. Entering the post-season relatively stress-free, Briscoe has found common ground with Wallace's journey.

"I saw an interview that Bubba did just talking about the sense of relief he's had the last couple weeks and and I can definitely relate to that. It's just definitely nice knowing here that, you know, when we go to Darlington next week, I already know I'm in the playoffs," he said via the aforementioned source.

Notably, Chase Briscoe began on the pole at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He led a total of 34 laps compared to Wallace's 30. The 23XL Racing driver ultimately held off Kyle Larson through a pair of overtime restarts to earn the checkered flag.