Chase Briscoe goes back-to-back at Charlotte. How NASCAR playoff drivers fared
Chase Briscoe has had a phenomenal 2026 playoff run.
Add Charlotte to the list of reasons why.
The NASCAR Cup Series driver of the No. 19 car had a dominant Stage 3 run and ultimately took the checkered flag on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That’s now back-to-back victories after his win last weekend at Las Vegas — and it marks exactly the kind of success that is sustaining his meteoric rise through this playoff field.
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Case in point: Two weekends ago, Briscoe sat eighth in the standings. Specifically: 123 points back. Now he sits fourth — and only 65 points behind series leader Kyle Larson.
Sunday also added to Briscoe’s recent greatness at intermediate ovals; he nearly won at Kansas the week before Vegas, too.
Briscoe, who led 62 laps, had a 2.5-plus second lead over the rest of the field at one point with under 30 laps to go. Part of that greatness was because of his pit crew, which had another wonderful showing Sunday. But a lot of that is because of Briscoe’s equipment and skill.
That was no more evidenced than in the final lap, when teammate Christopher Bell vied for Briscoe’s spot and took the low line on Turns 3 and 4 and even knocked into Briscoe but couldn’t clear his car. Briscoe told the FOX broadcast that his right rear wheel was “going down” on the last lap — making his finish even more remarkable.
Speaking to how close the race finish was: Sunday ended up being the second-closest finish in Charlotte Motor Speedway history, according to race officials — a .029 second margin of victory. The closest was .027 seconds with Jimmie Johnson defeating Bobby Labonte in 2005. This stat began being recorded in 1960.
Christopher Bell, who has 14 Top 5s to his name this year, when asked his emotions after such a heartbreaking loss, answered resolutely: “I don’t know.” Bell also finished P2 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May for the Coca-Cola 600.
Here’s a look at other drivers who had eventful Sundays at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Here’s a look at the updated playoff standings after Charlotte:
The oldest driver in the Cup field who entered the playoffs with a massive lead over everyone hasn’t had a flawless playoff. And on Sunday — despite driving with an impressive desperation (that included a heated Stage 2 exchange with his crew chief over the radio) — a few mistakes followed him.
The two that might haunt him:
He finished P5.
Said Hamlin of his day: “Just the long run speed, and obviously tanked there the last 15 laps or so. Just didn’t have the long run speed that we needed. I thought the short run was OK. It was decent. But I felt like we were a lot better when it was daytime, and then once it cooled off and the track got a little bit faster, we just lost the edge that we had.”
Hamlin on the final four races: “We’ve just got to execute better, be a little faster, all of the above. But ultimately we’re giving it all we’ve got right now.”
Kyle Larson started on the pole and in the best pit box starter. The driver of the No. 5 car, going into Stage 3, had captured the lead four different times and had led 96 laps. Great start, right?
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The finish was great, too: Larson concluded, ultimately, with a points-accumulation day, even if he didn’t take home a checkered flag. He avoided the carnage that always follows Charlotte by running up front and staying in clean air, and he also didn’t fall prey to any of the mistakes that plagued some of his peers. He ultimately finished P6 — and maintained a tight grip on his title hopes.
Larson entered Sunday up 40 points over the rest of the field. He extended that lead Sunday.
Said Larson on pit road postrace: “I was not in a position of power. I was hanging on. Yeah, honestly I thought I was going to manage that run well. The top two pushed really hard, and I could see Denny kind of settled in, so I was settling in just to try to make my tires live.
“Yeah, just got really, really loose on that run. Just not sure if maybe me not pushing enough kind of made the balance shifted rearward, using the rears too much, and I was just hanging on the last 15, 18 laps.
“Happy to still come in with a sixth and extend the points lead, but there was a couple other guys that kind of closed that gap a little bit. All in all, a good day, a stage win, extend the point lead. It’s good, but want to be a little bit better.”
When asked after the race if Ryan Blaney thought he still had a shot at the championship — even though he didn’t win Sunday and thus now he has to make up 85 points over four more races — the driver of the No. 12 car shrugged.
Yes. But what else am I supposed to say?
The former Cup champion finished third, overcoming a speeding-on-pit-road penalty and other drama en route to that result.
“I thought they did a great job for getting our car better,” Blaney said. “Even from the first run before I had my speeding penalty we kind of dropped hard at the end of the first run and were able to drive back from the back and get the 10th before the stage ended and then, yeah, kind of settled in the Top 5 after that, Top 3.
“You know, I just didn’t feel like I had the pace to hang with the 20 or the 19 early in runs. They could kind of get out there and I would start to close the gap, but it just wasn’t enough to make up for the early-run pace they had.
“Overall, really proud of our day after my mistake, like I said, and really proud of the last three weeks, the places we’ve really needed to get better at, the mile-and-a-halves, we’ve been able to do that. Three solid finishes. Sticking in there. Just got to keep going to work.”
Bubba Wallace and William Byron were collected in a wreck after Alex Bowman overcorrected on an end-of-Stage 1 issue. This race might have hurt the title chances for Wallace (P37) and Byron (P39), two playoff drivers.
Read more Chase Briscoe goes back-to-back at Charlotte. How NASCAR playoff drivers fared
This story will be updated.
This story was originally published October 11, 2026 at 6:41 PM.
