Chase Briscoe hit the wall after contact from A.J. Allmendinger during Saturday’s final practice session for the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
Briscoe passed Allmendinger in turn two, but as the drivers drew close for the next corner on the quarter-mile track, Allmendinger drove his Kaulig Racing Chevrolet into the back of Briscoe’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing entry and sent him into the fence.
“I just got drove through,” Briscoe said. “I thought he was slowing down on the straightaway to get a gap, and I felt like I was beside him pretty far down the straightaway. I got in there a little hot for sure, but I honestly thought he was just going to give it to me since we were in practice.”
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for Briscoe and the right-front end of the No. 14 Ford Mustang that sustained damage in the incident.
Briscoe called it “significant damage,” especially considering his top speed of the session was only 67.25 mph. He ultimately turned the third-fastest practice lap, trailing Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace. While Briscoe voiced understanding for Allmendinger’s frustration, he also shared that he didn’t believe his move past the No. 16 Kaulig Racing car deserved retaliation.
“It’s unfortunate for sure and definitely could have been avoided … I don’t know if it’s worth crashing cars in practice over,” Briscoe said. “We were still the fastest car at the end there, so it will still be fine, I think.”
As for where the team will go from here, it’s a trip to uncharted territory.
There is still qualifying and heat racing to face, but SHR does not possess a backup car for any of its four entries. Only 27 cars in the 36-car field will race the main event on Sunday. Still, Briscoe has faith that team will be able to make it into the Clash at the Coliseum for a second consecutive year.
“We’ll figure it out as we go,” Briscoe said. “There is a lot of stuff bent, but I think you could still qualify, for sure.”