Briscoe Advances With Overtime Talladega Score

TALLADEGA, Ala. — In a typically dramatic push to the Talladega Superspeedway checkered flag, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe made a last-lap pass on the frantic-field to claim victory in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race and earn his first shot at the title.

The 29-year-old Indiana-native Briscoe will join his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, who won last week at Las Vegas, leaving the final two positions in the Championship 4 to be decided in next week’s regular season finale at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

Briscoe thanked another JGR teammate, however, 23-year old Ty Gibbs for the push forward on the final lap Sunday that resulted in his first ever superspeedway win – .145-second over Front Row Motorsports’ driver Todd Gilliland and Gibbs, neither who are among the current eight-driver Playoff field.

The runner-up showing was a career best for Gilliland. 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Haas Factory Team’s Cole Custer rounded out the top-five.

“Ty Gibbs, just an incredible teammate there,’’ said an emotional Briscoe, who stood on his No. 19 JGR Toyota waving his arms to the cheering crowd “I honestly would not have won that race without Ty. It was an amazing team effort. I can’t believe I won a superspeedway race. I’ve never done it at any level.”

“It’s not hit me, we’re going to Phoenix,’’ a grinning Briscoe said of the championship opportunity he now has after leading only 16 laps Sunday, but the most important final one.

“Absolutely [a dream come true]. So thankful that the Lord’s blessed me, opening doors and closing door at times, but certainly opening an incredible door for me here at Joe Gibbs Racing. … Even today I just had such a “peace” and normally I’m scared to death, nervous around this place but today just had such a peace.’’

Another JGR driver, Christopher Bell joined Briscoe as the only other Playoff competitor to finish among the top 10 Sunday, crossing the line eighth in the frantic three-wide four rows deep finish that has long characterized the 2.66-mile Talladega high-banks – NASCAR’s largest track. With Hamlin and Briscoe in the title race thanks to victories, Bell now holds the top points position, 37 points above the cutoff line.

As good of a day as it was for the Gibbs team to be able to claim half the championship race eligibility and position Bell atop the points standings, it was a disappointing afternoon for the other two organizations also racing for a shot at the title – Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske.

Hendrick had two cars running among the top five for the overtime restart only to have Kyle Larson drop back from the lead after running out of fuel. William Byron get spun out from behind only yards in front of the finish line while running top-10. They finished 25th (Byron) and 26th (Larson).

Larson is ranked fourth, a point below Bell in the standings – 36 points above the cutoff line. Byron – the regular season champion – is now fifth, 36 points below the line.

Penske’s two Playoff drivers, reigning series champion Joey Logano and 2023 series champ Ryan Blaney also experienced similar late-race frustration after positioning themselves up front in the waning laps. Logano’s No. 22 Ford actually led the most laps (35) on the day and turned in the longest single stint out front (16 laps) in a race that featured an incredible 77 lead changes among 27 drivers.

Ultimately neither could move forward in the closing pair of laps, however. Logano finished 16th and Blaney was 23rd – after both had to pit during the overtime caution period to top off on fuel.

“Really, really frustrating because you’re so close and you see in front of you what you’ve got to do and you can’t do anything about it,’’ said reigning series champion, Logano. “It’s frustrating but we know what we’ve got to do now, it’s pretty simple.’’

Sunday’s results leave Logano ranked sixth among the eight Playoff drivers, 38 points below the cutoff line. Blaney is seventh, 47 points back. Both now need a victory at Martinsville to return to the championship race. Blaney has won the last two Playoff races at the half-mile Martinsville track and Logano won it in 2018.

NASCAR’s perennial “Most Popular Driver” and a huge Talladega crowd favorite Chase Elliott was the first Playoff driver to have trouble Sunday, collected in an eight-car accident near the front of the field only 51 laps into the 193-lap race, resulting in a last place finish in the 40-car field.

Elliott had started the race ranked sixth in the Playoff standings, only 23 points below the cutoff line and has now fallen to eighth among the eight drivers, 62 points out of Playoff contention and also needing to win next Sunday at Martinsville – something he’s done before, claiming the 2021 Playoff finale there.

“I saw somebody get turned sideways just like normal and you hope you can get slowed down in time but I got turned sideways there somehow, someway and hit some more stuff after that,’’ Elliott said, adding, “We just did not execute that well as a group and put ourselves in the back of the pack unfortunately and got caught up in the mess.

“Stage points are so crucial right now and I wasn’t super surprised everybody was starting to get super aggressive and unfortunately, I didn’t make it through.

“Unless we won today, we were already likely in a very similar situation next week. I hate it. I don’t know what you do in those situations. We weren’t back there doing anything wild or crazy, I just got turned sideways and slid up into the wreck. Thinking about it I wish I could have done something different, but I don’t really know what I would have done. Looking forward to Martinsville. Got one more shot at it.’’

Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, Bell, Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith and Roush-Fenway-Keselowski owner-driver Brad Keselowski rounded out Sunday’s top 10.