LAS VEGAS – Outside polesitter Chase Briscoe fought hard to put himself in position to make his first Championship 4 appearance, but finished fourth in Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
On the final run of the race, the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team gambled in their final pit stop by only changing right-side tires. The move promoted him from sixth to the top of the leaderboard with 28 laps to go.
The race resumed on Lap 245 only to last a single green-flag lap, after an 11-car wreck in Turn 1 forced Briscoe and the rest of the field to rack them back up again for a dash to the finish.
In a tale as old as time, four fresh ‘Mr. Feelgoods’ are usually better than two, as Briscoe’s teammate, Denny Hamlin, capitalized on that final stop to chase him down in the closing laps.
RACE RESULTS: 2025 NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas
Coming to four laps to go, Hamlin went to the top lane and passed Briscoe for the race lead, which led to his long-awaited 60th NASCAR Cup Series victory.
With Hamlin punching his ticket into the Championship 4, Briscoe gradually fell down the running order and had to rely on air blocking to maintain the best position possible.
Following passes from both Kyle Larson and his other Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Christopher Bell, Briscoe was able to hold onto a top-five. It’s a defeat that’ll sting a while for the 30-year-old driver.
Despite not having the run that Briscoe had hoped for, the Mitchell, Indiana-native enters Talladega Superspeedway sitting fourth in point standings, 15 points above the cutoff line.
“My car was good enough in [Turns] 1 and 2, I could hold my own, but [Turns] 3 and 4, I blew like a half-second every single lap,” Briscoe said about the final run of the race. “I was so vulnerable down the front straightaway. It’s tough, but it could’ve been a lot worse.”
Briscoe described Sunday’s event as an odd one, but felt amazed at how unbelievably his No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE machine ran in Stage 1, leading the opening 35 laps.
However, a slow right-side tire change during the first green-flag pit stop cycle set him back, affecting the balance of the car. Notably, when he hit the wall during a restart, that knocked the toe link and reported a vibration.
From that point forward, Briscoe’s car wasn’t the same, where strategy was integral in getting a better result than he would’ve had. A situation he emphasized after the race, but recognized that Hamlin just had his number when it mattered most.
“It’s like when you’re pulling off the exit ramp and you’re running 15 mph and they’re running 80. There’s nothing else I felt I could’ve done because I was vulnerable in 3 and 4,” said Briscoe. “If my car handled in 3 and 4 like it did in 1 and 2, I’d probably would’ve won. But I was really loose down there and that’s what cost me.”
RELATED: Perceived Underdog Chase Briscoe Prepared as Round of 8 Kicks Off at Vegas
The mind shifts towards Talladega, where Briscoe hopes it goes well, which he described as “pray and survive” for him to extend the gap over current fifth-place driver William Byron, who finished 36th after colliding with Ty Dillon.
In a tongue-in-cheek remark, Briscoe told crew chief James Small before the race that if he had won at Las Vegas, he would run 35th at Talladega. This was a handshake agreement, but now he’ll have to go to work.
“Unfortunately, I won’t get the opportunity to do that next week,” said Briscoe. “I don’t think our approach changes. We’ll have to go and just race as hard as we can and try to execute. Let the points be what they are, and if it’s enough, it’ll be enough.”
Coverage of the YellaWood 500 at Talladega will commence Sunday, October 19, at 2:00 p.m. ET on NBC. Motor Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast for the event.
