Chase Briscoe holds off Las Vegan Noah Gragson in Xfinity race

It has been a few years since the NASCAR playoffs were called The Chase. But the Xfinity version of the postseason is starting to look like it again.

Chase Briscoe led a race-high 164 of 200 laps en route to his second win in a row and eighth of the season in Saturday’s Alsco 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“We’ve had a lot of wins this year, but this was by far my most dominant car,” said the driver of the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, who finished 1.4 seconds ahead of Las Vegas’ Noah Gragson in the Xfinity postseason opener.

Although Briscoe had the field covered, he was forced to hold off Gragson following a restart with eight laps to go after Alex Labbe stalled at pit entrance. Briscoe was more than up to the task, gradually putting distance between himself and the young JR Motorsports driver over the final laps to earn his second win in six starts at LVMS.

“I can sleep a little easier this week,” Briscoe, 25, said of clinching a berth in the second round of the playoffs by winning in front of empty grandstands amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Gragson was all smiles after climbing out of his car despite having to stuff foam from his rollcage inside his nose to stop it from bleeding.

“We were good, the best I’ve ever been here,” said the 22-year-old local lead foot who did not lead a lap but was one of the few drivers in the 36-car field able to keep Briscoe in sight. “Just didn’t have enough for that 98.

“There were a lot of race cars out here but only one space shuttle.”

Daniel Hemrick, driving a car sponsored by the South Point, finished third, with Justin Allgaier and Ryan Sieg rounding out the top five. But in the end, it was a two-car race, and just barely at that.

Briscoe won a competitive first race stage that featured three lead changes and three yellow flags as the cars slid around a sun-baked track. The race began to settle as the sun dipped below the vacant grandstands, but Briscoe paced the second stage as well, with Gragson running a close second.

ARCA’s General Tire 150

Grace Trotter became the first woman to win a race in the 67-year-old ARCA series by pulling away to a victory at the General Tire 150 on Saturday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring.

The 19-year-old North Carolina driver secured the lead on the 48th lap of 150 and held off Jesse Love and Blaine Perkins for the history-making victory.

“I’m really excited and kind of at a loss for words,” said Trotter who has finished no lower than fourth in any of her previous races . “First year in ARCA and (team owner) Bill McAnally took me on. He called me up and wanted me to come race for him.”

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.