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Chase Briscoe looks to move on after Kansas incident with lapped car

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Chase Briscoe gets a run on the outside and gets into the back of Garrett Smithley, and Christopher Bell and Smithley spin as a result.

Chase Briscoe admits he “kind of felt bad” for Garrett Smithley upon seeing the comments directed toward Smithley after he caused Briscoe and Christopher Bell to crash as they raced for the lead late in last weekend’s Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway, but Briscoe said that “it doesn’t take away from the fact that we should be locked into Homestead right now.”

Briscoe made the comments Tuesday on “The Morning Drive” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Briscoe and Bell were racing for the lead with 16 laps left when Smithley, who was running five laps behind the leaders, drifted up the track and into their lane. Bell and Briscoe made contact. Briscoe recovered to finish third. Bell finished 12th. Brandon Jones scored his first Xfinity win.

The race was the opener in the Round of 8, meaning a win would have locked a playoff driver into next month’s championship race in Miami. Jones was eliminated in the previous round. At least two of the final four spots in Miami will be based on points. Instead of winning to guarantee a spot in the title event, Briscoe is fifth in the points heading to the Nov. 2 race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Briscoe was asked on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio what the etiquette should be for cars laps down when the leaders approach:

“I think it’s so tough,” he said. “Those guys, they’re racing their own race, too. They’re trying to prove they deserve to be there. Obviously they aren’t racing for a championship, but they are racing for their lives. They have every right to use whatever lane they want to use.

“There is a certain etiquette, I think, that comes, especially when two guys are clearly batting for the chance to make it to Homestead. That was what kind of frustrated me. There were a couple of guys even before we got to (Smithley) that ran right on the fence right in front of us. It just made it tough for us to race it out.

“It’s one of those deals that you can’t change it now. You’ve just got to have general awareness of what is going on. It is tough to see out of these cars but we have spotters too. I heard that there was a little bit of a misunderstanding there. Just go on. Hopefully they’ve learned from it and we’ve learned from it and go on and just do better next time.”

Smithley said after the incident that he didn’t know the leaders were approaching.

“I just didn’t get the memo that he was coming,” Smithley said of the leaders. “(Spotter) Freddie (Kraft) usually does a good job, he always does a good job. I’m sure it wasn’t his fault. Something didn’t get transmitted or what.”

Kraft resigned as Smithley’s spotter after the incident, according to spotter Brett Griffin on the “Door Bumper Clear” podcast.

Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s chief racing development officer, said Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that officials talked with Smithley about his role in causing Briscoe and Bell to crash.
Smithley stated in a tweet after Saturday’s race that he took “full responsibility” for the incident with Briscoe and Bell.

Briscoe said that as of Tuesday morning he had yet to talk to Smithley.

“He texted me I saw (Monday) and I was so busy (Monday) I didn’t even have the opportunity to talk to him,” Briscoe told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “ I’m sure this week I’ll reach out to him and tell him to call me. I understand where he’s coming from, it’s a situation he certainly doesn’t want to be.

“I kind of felt bad honestly for him because he tagged us in that tweet and I saw a lot of people kind of ridiculing him. The fans can definitely be brutal. It was just a mistake. It’s obvious he didn’t do it on purpose. I understand that.

“It doesn’t take away from the fact that we should be locked into Homestead right now, but if we go do our job these next two weeks we can still do that and hopefully it doesn’t come back to bite us.”