"It wasn't really me that did it" - Chase Briscoe responds to Erik Jones' frustration after a misunderstood clash at Phoenix

Chase Briscoe and Erik Jones were poised to fetch a top-10 result at Phoenix Raceway until an incident in the final stage put Jones out of contention and left him frustrated with the #14 Stewart Haas Racing driver.

Briscoe and Jones were fighting for track position on a restart in the final stage when Bubba Wallace tried to split the two drivers, putting them in a four-wide. Wallace then hit Jones' #43 Toyota, causing him to slap the outside barrier and drop down the field.

The Legacy Motor Club driver expressed his frustrations with Chase Briscoe after the race, having been involved in multiple run-ins with the SHR driver. On the other hand, Briscoe was confused as to why Jones was upset with him, as he believed he had nothing to do with the crash at Phoenix.

In a recent appearance on NASCAR's SiriusXM Radio, Briscoe explained:

"I don't really know still what he's super mad about to be honest with you. I know that we were four wide at one point, and I know I barely got into him off of Turn 4. A couple of laps later when Bubba hit him and we were same thing four wide, Bubba kind of hit me in the door and then split up and hit Erik."

He continued:

"It was one of those deals where we were four wide into one, and we all just kind of ran out of room. I think that's what he is mad about. I don't know if hasn't called because he watched the replay and realized that it wasn't really me that did it. I haven't heard from him, but if he calls me I'll be glad to talk to him..."

Erik Jones was relegated to a 31st-place finish following the incident, while Chase Briscoe took home a top-10 finish. Jones and Briscoe have managed to find each other in the Cup points standings too, as they occupy the 18th and 19th positions respectively.

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What did Erik Jones say about Chase Briscoe?

The Legacy Motor Club driver was frustrated with Chase Briscoe, as he believed the #14 SHR Ford driver was dragging him down on every restart. He also claimed that Briscoe was intentionally going four wide to slow down the rest of the drivers.

Erik Jones elaborated that it wasn't the first time they had tangled on the track and claimed that Briscoe would refuse to talk about his on-track maneuvers. He said in an interview with Frontstretch.com:

"[The] No. 14 (Briscoe) is dragging us down over and over, restart after restart. He put us four wide because he’s slowing us down so much, and I got wrecked. So, that sucks, but he seems to have an issue with me every week. I’ll call him this week, he probably won’t call me back, and [I’d] love to talk to him."

Chase Briscoe has stated that he has not received any call from Jones yet and that he would be willing to discuss the matter.