Chase Briscoe just pulled off something wild at Charlotte Motor Speedway, taking his second straight win in the second-closest finish in the track's history over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell. Briscoe crossed the line 0.029 seconds ahead of Bell, courtesy of an absolute masterclass from his No. 19 Toyota crew who delivered the three fastest pit stops of the day. That included a crucial service on Lap 207 that snatched the lead away from Bell, letting Briscoe hold the front for the final 61 laps. After six races in the Chase presented by Mobil 1, Briscoe sits 65 points back of Kyle Larson after clawing back 58 points in the last two outings. Had Bell managed to steal that win, he would sit just 31 points behind Larson instead of 51.
Things could have looked vastly different if not for a Lap 123 incident involving Kyle Larson. Up to that point, Larson was putting on a clinic, sweeping Stage 1 after leading the opening 45 laps and controlling another massive block between Laps 59 and 107. Then Denny Hamlin delivered a bump that dropped Larson from second to seventh. Larson managed to lead only two more laps the entire afternoon, eventually coming home sixth. While he gained nine points over Hamlin to stretch his gap to 49 points, that margin could have been enormous if Larson had kept his early dominance rolling.
Larson's cushion has actually grown despite Briscoe's hot streak, entirely because the man from Joe Gibbs Racing started so far back. Larson simply avoids the kind of disasters dragging down the rest of the field. A sixth-place finish counts as a terrible afternoon for him right now, while absolute chaos swallowed up other contenders. Bubba Wallace, William Byron, and Alex Bowman all saw their days cut short in a massive wreck. Hamlin fought pit road issues that cost him track position, Ryan Blaney collected a speeding penalty, and Chase Elliott had to pit a second time to tighten a loose lug nut.
That metronomic consistency from Larson is turning the screw on his rivals, especially Hamlin. Having set a strict deadline of this or next year to finally bag a championship, Hamlin was supposed to claw back ground across a three-race stretch of intermediate tracks. Instead, his deficit blew out from a single point to 49 points, visibly altering his demeanor as his Chase funk hardens.
Now the circus moves to Phoenix Raceway for the Freeway Insurance 500, kicking off a brutal final stretch featuring entirely different track types before the season finale on a 1.5-mile track at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway loom right after the desert. Blaney looks primed to feast on this upcoming run, having scored multiple wins across all three venues, including the last two visits to Phoenix.
He will not have it easy with teammate Joey Logano boasting four Phoenix victories, alongside Bell and Hamlin who have two each. Briscoe took his maiden Cup Series win there in 2022 while driving for Stewart-Haas Racing, though his recent form at the venue has slumped with no finish higher than 18th in his last four attempts. Larson took his own Phoenix victory back in 2021 when his crew nailed the final stop to clinch a championship, and with top-four finishes in six of the last seven races there, waiting for him to crack feels like wishful thinking. With Byron and Elliott also owning past Phoenix triumphs from the spring of 2023 and fall of 2020 respectively, the battle in the desert between Hendrick, Gibbs, and Penske is going to be fierce.
