Ensured a spot in the Round of 12 thanks to his dominant Cook Out Southern 500 win on Sunday in the No. 19 Toyota, NASCAR Cup Series star Chase Briscoe is already turning his focus to the next round.

Briscoe kicked off his first Playoff start since replacing Martin Truex Jr. at Joe Gibbs Racing this season in style, qualifying second, winning both stages, before claiming his second consecutive Southern 500 win, all while avoiding the chaos behind him.

The 30-year-old will now head to both the World Wide Technology Raceway and then Bristol Motor Speedway, safe in the knowledge that he will still be in the mix come New Hampshire Motor Speedway on September 21. With this in the back of his mind, Briscoe told 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick that he is looking ahead to New Hampshire.

“I think for the next two weeks for us, it’s just trying to get as many Playoff points as we can,” he said on ‘Harvick’s Happy Hour‘ podcast. “I mean, last night, yeah, I’m happy that we locked into the Round of 12, but truthfully, I felt like as long as we just ran halfway decent, we were going to go to the Round of 12 anyways. 

“So I was way more excited about the seven Playoff points last night than anything. I mean, we only had 10 Playoff points going into the Playoffs. Now we have 17. I mean, that’s a huge Delta now, especially once you get into that Round of 8, at least makes it somewhat achievable to point your way in if you had to.”

Briscoe’s reasoning for focusing on New Hampshire made all the more sense when he admitted that, along with Talladega in the Round of 8, Loudon was a track that continues to worry him. 

“If there’s any track that kind of worries me, I mean, obviously Talladega, right?” he commented. “But in the Round of 12, I would say it’s Loudon. And it’s just been a place that I’ve always felt very lost at, and just always been a huge struggle for me and Trucks, Xfinity, everything. So that would be the one I would say, probably definitely gonna put more effort into now that we’re locked in already.”

In fact, Briscoe noted that he’d already spoken to his crew chief, James Small, about preparing for Loudon last week.

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Briscoe may not feel comfortable at New Hampshire, but his results there suggest otherwise, having crossed the line second to now-teammate Christopher Bell there last season while with Stewart-Haas Racing. The year prior, he came home a solid 10th, improving upon his 15th-place finish in 2022. 

All in all, Briscoe has only finished outside the top 20 at Loudon once in six attempts across the top three series.

As for the notorious Talladega, Briscoe’s concern is understandable, although again, his track record is one some drivers would likely envy. In nine Cup Series races on the 2.66-mile oval, Briscoe has finished a high of fourth, with just two finishes below 15th.

But while Briscoe may be worried about races weeks down the line, the next event at WWTR, the Enjoy Illinois 300, could prove a challenge, having yet to reach the checkered flag better than 17th in the Cup.