NASCAR
Chase Briscoe Earns Razor-Thin Second Consecutive Chase Win
CONCORD, N.C. – Two intermediate ovals in back-to-back weeks led to the same result – Chase Briscoe taking the checkers again at Charlotte. Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota bookended this race, leading early on and from lap 200 onward. Briscoe’s win was anything but smooth sailing though, giving up a ton of ground to Christopher Bell in the closing laps. Off of turn four, Bell got to Briscoe’s inside but didn’t have enough momentum to beat the 19 to the line. By a near-record margin, Briscoe keeps a fighter’s chance alive at the 2026 Cup title.
Polesitter and Chase points leader Kyle Larson led much of the opening stage, trying to maximize all points possible. The No. 5 would get passed midway through Stage 2 by Christopher Bell, trying to better his May runner-up here. Once the final stage went green, Bell restarted third but went three-wide to retake the lead and set an early command. The final restart saw Denny Hamlin shove Briscoe by Bell for the point, a gap that Briscoe then began to manage.
Bell makes it three-wide for the lead! pic.twitter.com/Qv4ZipyrXO
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 11, 2026
After catching lapped traffic late, Briscoe began bleeding major time to a hungry Christopher Bell. The No. 20 had the win within sight on the last lap, washing up into Briscoe off of turn four. The 19 just got back to the gas a bit sooner, and edged the 20 back to the stripe by 0.029 seconds. This is the second-closest finish ever at Charlotte, and vaulted Briscoe up to fourth in points.
CHASE BRISCOE WINS AT CHARLOTTE IN A PHOTO FINISH! pic.twitter.com/leoT2oMBUA
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 11, 2026
Photo finish between @chasebriscoe and @CBellRacing as both @JoeGibbsRacing Toyotas make contact off of turn 4 coming to the checkers #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/zWIjrC17Nz
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) October 11, 2026
“When I got that final pack of lapped cars with five or six to go, I mean, I just felt like I was going to knock the wall down at any point,” Briscoe said. “It just quit turning. I don’t know what it is about these finishes. I’ve got to quit making it so exciting at the end. Just an amazing car. So cool to get Free Bird into Victory Lane. They’re a relatively new company and really new to NASCAR. A good Free Bird show here.”
“And, yeah, what an amazing run we’ve been on. Should be three in a row and just glad we were able to redeem our to this team. Amazing job to this team. This pit crew has just been unbelievable. My hero is Tony Stewart. He made a pretty unbelievable run, and hopefully we can do the same thing.”
“[My pit crew] have been an absolute key to it. When you can come down pit road and know you’re going to gain spots every time or if you’re in the lead, not lose the lead, it just makes your job so much easier as a racecar driver. You don’t have to go out and do anything extra. They just have your back every time.”
“Unbelievable team effort. Great job by James (Small, crew chief) and the entire group. Just I’m having a lot of fun driving these racecars right now. Thank you to all the fans. You guys absolutely always turn out. Hopefully it was an amazing race, and looking forward to the next one.”
Behind the top duo were: Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry, Denny Hamlin, and points leader Kyle Larson. Hear post-race thoughts from a few of these drivers below.
Now with only four races to go in The Chase, Kyle Larson continues to lead by 49 points over Hamlin. These top two will go to battle next around Phoenix Raceway, where they’ve both had recent success. The Freeway Insurance 500 goes green Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
