Chase Briscoe became the newest ARCA Racing Series champion on Friday at Kansas Speedway with his team Cunningham Motorsports. Briscoe is a young driver from Mitchell, Indiana, and ran the entire season for the first time in 2016.
The young driver, who could be a force in the near future if he finds the right ride moving forward in NASCAR one day, displayed domination all throughout the 20 races in 2016. The series, which features veterans and rookies, is not particular easy as they visit unique racing facilities all over the east and Midwest. ARCA visits dirt tracks, short tracks, 1.5-mile tracks, Talladega and Daytona, Pocono Raceway and Michigan.
Briscoe’s season started on a high note in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway where he started third and finished the day in fourth. The very next race at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, he would capture his first career pole and take his No. 77 machine to a ninth-place finish. He would win the pole in the third race of the year at Salem and finish 16th out of 32 cars.
The next five races at Talladega, Millville, Pocono, Michigan and Madison would result in all top 10 finishes for Briscoe. He would also start all of those races, with the exception of Talladega where he started 20th, inside the top 10 with two of those being poles.
At the end of the halfway point is where things really started to explode for Briscoe. Winchester, race 10 of 20 for the ARCA Racing Series, would be the first weekend where Briscoe would park his No. 77 Big Tine Ford in victory lane. Briscoe also started on the pole in that race and led 142 of 200 laps. The next three races at Iowa, Lucas Oil Raceway Park and Pocono also resulted in wins for the 21-year old driver.
“After that first win, they just kept coming. Looking back now we think we should have 12 or 13 wins. We gave a lot away,” Briscoe said in a pre-race press conference at Kansas Speedway. “I’m just so honored to give Briggs (Cunningham) and Kerry (Scherer) their first championship. It’s a small payment on my end but a great way to pay them back.”
The next four races at Berlin, Springfield, DuQuion and Salem would all result in top 10 finishes for the No. 77 Cunningham Motorsports team. Race 18 of 20 at Chicagoland Speedway would be the next win for the rookie driver after starting that event in second.
His one and only DNF throughout the entire season would come in race 19 of 20 at Kentucky Speedway, where he got into a crash on lap 77 of 102 in the Crosley 150. Despite the DNF, Briscoe still made his presence known as he started the event on the pole. The DNF would not impact him much in points as all he needed to do was start the season finale one month later at Kansas Speedway.
The big day for Briscoe arrived on October 14 at Kansas Speedway. Drivers and teams woke up to cloud cover and a heavy mist that would cancel both ARCA Racing Series practices and would force ARCA to set the starting grid by owner points. ARCA used the one-hour window for qualifying as a final practice session. By having the field set by points, Briscoe would start the Kansas 150 on the pole position. The Indiana driver would lead 68 of the 100 laps to win his sixth race of the season and become the 2016 ARCA Racing Series champion.
“It’s been a whirlwind for sure,” said Briscoe in a press conference. “What a learning curve it’s been for me. I had no idea how to save my stuff with these longer races. I’ve never learned more in any one season. The season we had doesn’t come every year…it’s life changing. This Cunningham Motorsports team is like a second family to me.”
ARCA initiated a new rule in 2016 that rookies cannot win the SCOTT Rookie of the Year award and the championship in the same season. The Rookie of the Year title went to Dalton Sargeant, who finished the year with one victory, 10 top five and 12 top 10 finishes through 15 starts with Venturini Motorsports. Sargeant, an 18-year old Florida native, finished the year eighth in points.
“Overall it was a great year for all of us on this 55 team,” said Sargeant in a team release. “Winning rookie of the year and the superspeedway challenge is really an accomplishment especially when you look at the field and the amount of talent in the series; it’s truly something special. Each and every week as a driver I’m learning more and more every time I come to the track. It’s absolutely a blast working with the guys on this team and learning as much as I can, especially with my crew chief, Billy Venturini. I’m very thankful for the opportunity and support of Toyota, Windows 10 and everyone else who made this year possible.”
Besides series champion Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, who started five events, and Josh Williams, who started 19 of the 20 races, were the only two other drivers to finish the season with multiple victories. Bell’s two victories came at both Salem races while Williams captured wins at Nashville and Madison. Williams went on to finish the year fourth in driver points.
Tom Hessert will leave 2016 as the runner-up in driver points. Hessert, driving the
No. 25 Toyota for Venturini Motorsports, scored one victory, six top five and 15 top 10 finishes through 20 races. He started two races on the pole – which earned him additional points.
“I’m certainly really proud finishing second in the championship,” said Hessert in a team release. “Obviously our goal was to win but there’s nothing to be ashamed of finishing runner up either. We definitely had our ups and downs throughout the year so I was really proud of the way this team rebounded and the momentum we had during the second part of the season.”
The ARCA Racing Series will return in February at Daytona International Speedway. Radio and television information is still to be determined. The sanctioning body will hold its banquet on December 10 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, IN.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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