Chase Briscoe Dominates Las Vegas and Keeps His Championship Hopes Alive

Chase Briscoe swept both stages and led 175 laps at Las Vegas, but Kyle Larson nearly erased a dominant afternoon before a last-lap mistake ended his charge.

Chase Briscoe spent most of Sunday afternoon looking like the driver nobody could touch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. By the final lap, however, Kyle Larson had managed to turn what looked like a runaway victory into one of the most tense finishes of the NASCAR Chase.

Briscoe ultimately survived the pressure to win the South Point 400, leading a race-high 175 of 267 laps and sweeping both stages on the way to his second victory of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. He crossed the finish line 1.376 seconds ahead of Larson, although that margin does not accurately describe how close the battle had become before Larson hit the wall in Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap.

The race initially appeared to belong to Joe Gibbs Racing as Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell and Briscoe occupied the first four positions early. Hamlin started from the pole and led 39 of the opening 80 laps, but the championship contender’s afternoon changed late in Stage 1. While trying to regain positions, Hamlin spun by himself with three laps remaining in the stage and slid across the apron. He avoided the wall but damaged the underside of the No. 11 Toyota badly enough that the car never completely recovered.

Briscoe took advantage. He won Stage 1 and followed it by winning Stage 2, building the kind of points afternoon he desperately needed after entering Las Vegas more than 100 points behind Larson. While Briscoe controlled the front, Larson was experiencing the opposite race. The No. 5 Chevrolet was so far off during the opening run that Hendrick Motorsports spent 26 seconds in the pits making major adjustments. The long stop dropped Larson a lap down before a caution allowed him to take the wave-around and begin working his way back toward contention.

That recovery became one of the biggest stories of the afternoon. Larson had almost no stage points to show for the first half of the race, but the Hendrick team gradually transformed the car into one capable of challenging for the victory. Tyler Reddick followed a similar path after experiencing electrical trouble and replacing a battery early. By the final green-flag run, both drivers had positioned themselves behind Briscoe.

The closing laps became a test of tire management. Briscoe had done a strong job defending the lead, including holding off Bubba Wallace earlier in the final stage while Wallace repeatedly tried to attack before eventually using up too much of his equipment. From the grandstands, the HFTS crew saw how much the race changed during a run. Drivers could attack aggressively on fresh tires, but managing those tires became increasingly important as the laps accumulated.

Larson took a more patient approach and began closing rapidly near the finish. With Reddick following him toward the front, Briscoe’s advantage shrank until Larson was within four-tenths of a second entering the final lap. Larson pushed harder through Turns 3 and 4 trying to create enough momentum for one last attempt, but the No. 5 snapped loose and slammed the outside wall. Reddick then hit Larson before sliding through the infield grass, yet both cars continued and retained second and third.

Austin Cindric finished fourth after another strong intermediate-track performance, while Ryan Blaney climbed from 20th to finish fifth. William Byron, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Shane van Gisbergen and Joey Logano rounded out the top 10. Hamlin recovered only to 16th, while Bell finished 23rd after spending much of the second half of the race without power steering.

The championship implications were almost as important as the trophy. Briscoe gained 39 points on Larson and moved to sixth in The Chase standings, 84 points behind with five races remaining. Larson still increased his overall advantage because Hamlin, Bell and Logano all failed to capitalize on his early problems. The No. 5 now leads Hamlin by 40 points, Bell by 55 and Logano by 71.

Briscoe needed a nearly perfect afternoon to keep himself in this championship conversation.

At Las Vegas, he came about as close as anyone can get.