Chase Briscoe Wins Talladega To Make NASCAR Championship 4
Kyle Larson came oh so close to winning his first race on a drafting track at Talladega on Sunday, but it was another driver who would pick up their first plate racing win.
Larson lined up next to Bubba Wallace on the front row for an overtime finish after Chris Buescher was spun with two laps to go.
Larson had his teammate Willam Byron behind him for the restart while Wallace’s fellow Toyota driver Chase Briscoe lined up behind him.
Larson and Wallace raced side by side into the final lap when Larson ran out of gas and pulled out of line onto the apron. That opened the door for Briscoe to go low under Wallace with his teammate Ty Gibbs following with a push.
It was enough to move Briscoe to the front, where he held on for his first win on a drafting track in any series and booked his ticket to the Championship 4 at Phoenix.
“Ty Gibbs, just an incredible teammate there, I mean, I honestly would not have won that race without Ty,” Briscoe said during his front stretch interview on NBC after the race. “I can’t believe I won a superspeedway race!”
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It’s also Briscoe’s first time qualifying for the Championship 4, where he joins his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, who won his way in at Las Vegas last week.
JGR driver Christopher Bell finished ninth and is third in the playoffs standings 37 points above the cutline while Larson finished 26th and is 36 points to the good heading into Martinsville.
Chase Elliott’s day wasn’t nearly as good as the other Chase’s. He finished last after getting caught up in a multi-car wreck during the first stage, which dropped him to eighth in the playoffs standings He’ll start Martinsville 62 points below the cutline in need of a win, behind Blaney (-47), Logano (-38) and Byron (-36).
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