Chase Briscoe holds off teammate
Christopher Bell in Charlotte to win 2nd straight playoff race
[October 12, 2026]
By STEVE REED
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Chase Briscoe is getting the hang of winning
close races.
Briscoe held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell to win
his second straight NASCAR playoff race in a photo finish on Sunday
at Charlotte Motor Speedway, vaulting him into contention to earn
his first Cup Series championship.
The .029-second margin of victory was the second closest since CMS
opened in 1960, ranking behind only Jimmie Johnson's .027-second win
over Bobby Labonte in 2005.
The two drivers traded paint on the final lap, but Briscoe
maintained control of his No. 19 Toyota and reached the finish line
about a half-car length ahead of Bell.
“I don’t know what it is about these finishes. I have to quit making
it so exciting at the end,” said Briscoe, who had to hold off
playoff points leader Kyle Larson to win last week at Las Vegas.
It was the eighth win of Briscoe's career and third this season. He
led 62 laps.
Briscoe said he felt like his right front tire was going down on the
final laps, but was able to hold it together.
“When I got beyond those final lapped cars with five or six (laps)
to go, I felt like I was going to knock the wall down,” Briscoe
said. “At one point it just quit turning.”
Ryan Blaney finished third, followed by Josh Berry, Denny Hamlin and
Larson.
Briscoe was 123 points behind Larson prior to last week's win, but
the back-to-back victories have cut the deficit to 65 points and put
him in fourth place with four races left.
Gibbs said he was just happy his drivers didn’t wreck each other.
“That’s always when I’m the most nervous, when a couple of our guys
are running up front,” Gibbs said. “I know how badly all of our guys
want to win. ... That's when my blood pressure and heartbeat gets
accelerated.”
Hamlin is now 49 points behind Larson in the Chase, followed by
Bell, who is 51 points back.
Larson called it a “good, solid day” and was happy to extend his
playoff lead by nine points.
Hamlin can't seem to find momentum in playoffs
Hamlin won the regular season championship, but has struggled to
find victory lane in the playoffs. He seemed perplexed why he hasn’t
been able to regain the speed he had before the postseason.
“We got to execute better, be a little faster — all of the above,”
Hamlin said. “We’re giving it all we got right now.”
It didn't help that Hamlin was sent to the rear of the field for a
loose tire penalty on pit road on his first stop.
Larson starts on the pole, dominates early
Larson, who entered the race with five top five finishes including
two wins in the postseason, started on the pole based on NASCAR's
metric system after Saturday's qualifying was rained out.
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Chase Briscoe does a burnout after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto
race, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in Concord, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)
He made the most of the pole position, dominating
the race early by leading 68 of the 80 laps in the first stage to
collect the maximum number of points in stage one.
Bell caught Larson and won the second stage.
Tough start for playoff contenders in first 50 laps
Several Chase contenders ran into problems in the first stage.
Ty Gibbs broke a toe link in his No. 54 Toyota causing him to hit
the outside wall. Joey Logano, with nowhere to go, slammed into
Gibbs from behind. Gibbs headed behind the wall for repairs and fell
several laps behind, while Logano was sent to the back of the field.
And, near the end of the first stage, Alex Bowman's car got loose
and ran up the track and into Bubba Wallace's car, collecting
William Byron in the mix. Wallace climbed out of his car, but was
taken to the infield medical center in an ambulance.
The crash sent all three cars behind the wall.
“I just got loose," Bowman said. “Honestly, I had been really tight.
As soon as it got to the exit of the corner, it snapped and it kind
of didn’t stand a chance. Unfortunately, I grabbed too much wheel,
overcorrected it and got in those two guys’ (Wallace and Byron) way.
I hate that for the No. 24 and No. 23 teams. It’s one thing to get
loose and crash, but to ruin their days too really sucks.”
NASCAR, CMS say goodbye to the “roval,” welcome back oval racing
After eight years, CMS and NASCAR said goodbye to the “roval,”
changing the fall race from a road course back to the traditional 1
1/2-mile oval course. That came as NASCAR shifted away from road
courses and placed more emphasis on intermediate oval tracks before
the season.
Drivers seemed to be in favor of the change.
“I appreciate the roval for what it was, and I’ve enjoyed the
handful of years that we did it to start," Chris Buescher said.
"Charlotte has so much character. It’s put on some really good races
and I think that was the big push to get us back on the oval.”
Up next
The Cup Series heads to Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona next
Sunday.
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