Despite a spirited charge in the closing laps from Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe took the lead after the final round of green-flag pit stops and held on to win Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.
Briscoe spearheaded a 1-2-3 finish for Joe Gibbs Racing after passing undercutting William Byron by one lap during the final pit cycle and holding off Bell in the closing laps.
“How about that race? What an unbelievable weekend,” Briscoe told TNT. “I feel so American winning in the red white and blue Bass Pro car, Fourth of July weekend, 250 years. Did not see this coming. Out of all the people to race against, I knew Christopher was going to be clean with me. Really fun race.”
The win is Briscoe’s first of 2026, his fourth with Joe Gibbs Racing and the sixth of his Cup career. It also comes on the birthday of his crew chief, James Small. Sunday’s race was the first at Chicagoland since 2019.
“James, he and I are the two most polar opposite people in the world,” Briscoe said. “He told me if I win today I get some chocolate, so I’m pretty fired up about that.”
Bell, Denny Hamlin, Byron and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five, with Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Corey Heim and Riley Herbst completing the top 10. Seven Toyotas finished inside the top 10.
Bell and Hamlin closed rapidly on Briscoe in the final laps, though. Hamlin brushed the wall in the closing laps, taking him out of winning contention.
Notable results
Other notable finishers include Chase Elliott in 11th, Joey Logano in 12th, Erik Jones in 15th, Chris Buescher in 19th and Carson Hocevar in 22nd.
Radiator issues and a subsequent 36th-place finish from Tyler Reddick allowed Hamlin to extend his points lead to 44 points over Reddick with seven races left in the regular season.