TALLADEGA, Ala. – Chase Briscoe’s dream season continues with his first championship berth by virtue of a last-lap pass in NASCAR Overtime at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday.
The 30-year-old native of Mitchell, Indiana, took home his first-ever drafting track trophy when Kyle Larson ran out of fuel in front of William Byron while leading the inside lane. Briscoe sat second in the top line, then lunged below Bubba Wallace entering turn three to take command.
“The race was extremely stressful,” Briscoe said after recovering from a speed penalty in the first stage. “I don’t have very much hair in the first place, but what I had left was going to be gray.”
Briscoe described himself as miserable when Chris Buescher spun in a stack-up gone wrong, triggering overtime on lap 186. “I was kind of sick when the caution came out because I felt like I was going to finish in the top five and be okay points-wise,” Briscoe said.
The key for Briscoe was not the move to take the lead, but the driver who followed. Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs stuck with Briscoe, pushing him relentlessly back to the finish.
“Ty was the whole reason I won the race,” Briscoe said. “Whenever we chose for the restart, Ty picked behind me. I said, ‘Please tell me to stick with me wherever I go.’”
The result was Briscoe’s third win of the season, locking him into the Phoenix Championship Race.
JGR is the first organization to have three drivers in one season win more than three races in the modern era of NASCAR. Briscoe joins Denny Hamlin in the fight for the title, putting two Joe Gibbs Racing cars in the mix at Phoenix Raceway for the first time since 2021.
“I knew it was capable of happening,” Briscoe said. “Once we honestly won Pocono, I felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders, and everything started honestly feeling very similar to 2020 in Xfinity and even my ARCA season, where I just go to the racetrack and I’m just fast.
“I’m not doing anything different. I finally know what I needed out of the car.”
Crew chief James Small left Briscoe out on a two-tire stop the week prior, falling short of a Las Vegas victory. Small cited bad luck as one of the team’s most significant hurdles to overcome this season.
“We’ve had fast cars in the past, but usually luck has evaded us,” Small said. “Today everything kind of came together.” Small makes his first title appearance since 2021 with Martin Truex Jr.
“It’s been a hell of a year,” Small said. “As I said a million times before, (Chase’s) done everything we’ve asked and then some. Credit to him for pushing himself.”
After dropping out of the draft with an empty tank of fuel, Larson finished 26th. Byron appeared in contention for a top five after Larson lost touch. But for the second straight week, Byron’s day went sideways. Carson Hocevar turned Byron in the tri-oval to skid across the line in 25th.
Fellow Hendrick Motorsports Playoff driver Chase Elliott fared no better. On lap 53, Elliott was taken out in the biggest wreck of the afternoon, involving nine cars.
Noah Gragson spun into race leader AJ Allmendinger after a push from Erik Jones. Elliott was sideswiped by Austin Cindric and finished 40th, falling 62 points behind the Playoff cutline.
The Playoff outlook heading into the Martinsville cutoff sees Christopher Bell up by 37 points while Larson trails by one. Byron is the first driver in danger of elimination, with Joey Logano two points behind, Ryan Blaney at minus 46, and Elliott in must-win territory.
On Saturday, Oct. 26, Martinsville Speedway will conclude the Round of 8. Blaney enters as the two-time defending race winner on the short track. Race coverage begins at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.