Watching the final lap of the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was an absolute rollercoaster for Chase Briscoe. Kyle Larson plummeted from the lead to 11th on the backstretch before miraculously crossing the finish line first, leaving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver facing a massive deficit. It was the craziest range of emotions Briscoe had ever experienced, and watching the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports car take the win was definitely not an ideal situation.
Briscoe entered the weekend just 24 points behind Larson for the series lead. Things looked solid as he picked up 12 stage points with top-10 finishes in both segments during the scheduled 188-lapper. But with just six laps to go while running fourth in the top lane, Joey Logano crashed right in front of him after a push from Carson Hocevar, leaving zero room to escape. The heavy front-end damage sidelined the team permanently, marking their third DNF of The Chase presented by Mobil 1.
When Larson eventually secured the checkered flag for his first drafting-track victory in 59 starts, Briscoe found himself sitting 79 markers back—more than a race’s worth of points behind the postseason's most dominant driver. Teammates Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell also dropped to 73 and 74 points back, respectively. Briscoe admitted that the JGR competition meeting carried a definite lack of wind in their sails, knowing they need something extraordinary and considerable help from the 5 car.
Next up is Martinsville Speedway for the Xfinity 500, where Larson can all but seal the deal on the 2026 Cup Series championship by scoring 59 points and locking in his start at the Homestead-Miami finale. According to Racing Insights, Briscoe’s championship odds sit at a razor-thin 1.3%. Even winning both remaining races only boosts those odds to 49.8% without total control over the outcome.
Yet Briscoe is refusing to write off his title chances, drawing inspiration from his childhood idol, Tony Stewart. Much like Stewart's legendary 2011 championship run where he won five times, Briscoe already ripped off back-to-back victories earlier in The Chase at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway. He knows the situation demands an absolute must-win approach this weekend, completely shifting his mindset from when he was merely 20 points back.
That desperation has forced a radical change in how he tackles the 0.526-mile short track. While he enjoyed six straight top 10s at Martinsville during his Stewart-Haas Racing days, his three JGR starts haven't produced a finish better than ninth. To fix that, Briscoe spent nearly 400 laps in the simulator on Wednesday forcing himself to do the exact opposite of his natural driving style: slowing down to conserve tire wear for long runs instead of hustling the machine hard on fresh rubber.
It is the most different approach he has ever taken for any racetrack, studying telemetry from drivers who have mastered the venue to let the car do the work. If it pays off with a career-high fourth victory—and if Larson suffers the kind of slip-up he had at Phoenix just two weeks ago—the points could completely flip upside down yet again. Pro sports are unpredictable, and as Briscoe notes, anything can happen at any moment.
