Chase Briscoe doubles down on Denny Hamlin predicting Darlington being 'absolutely wild'

Denny Hamlin got the NASCAR world talking when he said earlier this week on “Actions Detrimental” that the March 22 race at Darlington Raceway would be “out of control.” Hamlin said the new short track package — which features 750 horsepower, a three-inch rear spoiler, and fewer diffuser strakes — would make for a chaotic day at The Lady in Black.

Chase Briscoe agrees with Hamlin. In fact, “out of control” were exactly the first words to come out of his mouth when Jeff Gluck of The Athletic asked him for his thoughts on what Hamlin had to say.

“It’s gonna be absolutely out of control,” Briscoe said on Gluckast. “It’s gonna be I think the hardest track we run on all year long. The added power is one thing, but the biggest thing is taking the diffuser and everything off. I mean, I’ve ran the sim for probably a week-and-a-half and you are crashing every corner on every lap, even on new tires.

“It is out of control. It’ll be very interesting in practice, qualifying, like, literally the whole weekend I think is gonna be must see. One team is gonna hit it right and they are gonna murder the field I feel like, just because of how drastically different this thing drives.”

Anticipation building for Darlington after Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin comments

If both Briscoe and Hamlin are correct, Darlington in just 10 days could be a truly memorable event. Hamlin went as far to predict tire fall off in the four-second range or more.

“These cars, with essentially little to no underbody because we’re now going to the short track aerodynamic package for Darlington, these cars are out of control,” Hamlin said. “I’m predicting four seconds of fall off, it might be more. It’s just the cars with the underbody taken off and that simple diffuser, just even on new tires, just absolutely out of control. So, it’s going to be a wild card race.”

Briscoe is excited to go to Darlington, even if the new package changes things for him. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had that place figured out under the old package, winning each of the last two Southern 500s.

The new package should be quite challenging to drivers and teams. Briscoe is looking forward to it.

“Truthfully, I felt we were pretty dialed in on the old package, so I’m not super thrilled about it. But it’s gonna make us earn it, for sure, and I’m super excited to go to Darlington,” Briscoe said. “You’re already on the ragged edge there and now you’re gonna leave there absolutely exhausted. I can’t imagine the Southern 500. You’re gonna be absolutely wore out. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.”