ROSSBURG, OH - JULY 18: Chase Briscoe, driver of the #27 Ford Ford, celebrates with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Eldora Dirt Derby at Eldora Speedway on July 18, 2018 in Rossburg, Ohio. (Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images)
Chase Briscoe would like a NASCAR Cup Series race at Eldora Speedway
Shane Walters
The Dirt Derby winner thinks dirt racers need a ‘ringer’ track for them in Cup Series
Ahead of the Eldora Dirt Derby, Tony Stewart put the word on the street that he would like the event at his dirt track to expand a bit. He’s interested in an Xfinity and/or Cup Series race on the dirt.
24 hours later, Chase Briscoe and Grant Enfinger ran side by side for several laps as the checkered flag approached at Eldora. Coming to the line, they used up all the fenders and the wall as Briscoe took the win in the dirt track thriller that brought a photo finish to NASCAR.
Would you want to run a cup race here?
“Absolutely,” the 2018 Eldora Dirt Derby winner Chase Briscoe stated from the media center after the event.
“The cup series to me is the best drivers in the world. So, the best race car drivers in the world should have to run a superspeedway. They should have to run at a short track. They should have to run at an intermediate track. They should have to run at a road course. They should have to run at a dirt track.”
“To me, the road course guys have their road course ringer tracks. The short track guys have theirs. Why don’t the dirt guys have a chance to show what they can do?”
“Honestly, I think a lot of the Cup guys that don’t have dirt experience would be just fine and enjoy it. But, if they’re a really good race car driver, they’re going to figure it out.”
“It’s not that hard. It’s obviously hard to find those last couple of tenths.”
ThorSport has been building a 1 off dirt truck for the last several seasons. They’ve learned a lot. In the early versions of the event, they’re setup was just off, as stated by the team.
Now, after a few years they’ve got the hang of it a bit.
“It is very different than what we do week in and week out. You want to see the best drivers here at this race track. We’d love to come out and watch a Cup race or an Xfinity race,” ThorSport Racing’s GM David Pepper stated after his driver took the win at Eldora.
“I think you saw one of the best races that NASCAR puts on tonight. It would be hard to argue that it wouldn’t be just as good with the other two national series. We’d love to see that.”