With sublime fuel conservation, Chase Briscoe held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin to win at Pocono Raceway and lock into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Briscoe made his final pit stop on Lap 119 of 160 and led the final 34 laps while stretching the fuel tank of his No. 19 Toyota to a 0.682-second victory despite concern by crew chief James Small that the fuel fill was too short.
It’s the third career victory in NASCAR’s premier series for Briscoe but his first since joining JGR this season.
“It was so hard to have a guy chasing you, probably the guy that’s the greatest of all time here, trying to save fuel and everything else,” Briscoe told Marty Snider on Prime, which estimated that Briscoe saved about three laps of fuel behind the wheel (and still had time for a celebratory burnout on the frontstretch). “Really the first race we’ve kind of executed truthfully all year long.
Chase Briscoe won at Pocono Raceway to become the 11th driver to lock down a spot.
“Joe Gibbs Racing took a big chance on me. I wasn’t everybody’s first choice. For me to be able to get here and finally deliver a win is just an awesome feeling. Anybody that has worked with me knows I’m normally overdriving, missing my marks all the time. My dad tells me all the time, ‘Slow down, you’ll probably go faster.’ It’s true there. Amazing day. To get Coach (Joe Gibbs) in victory lane after them taking a chance on me, it’s so rewarding truthfully. Just a big weight off my shoulders. I’ve been telling my wife the last two weeks, I have to win. To finally come here and do it, it has been a great day.”
Hamlin, who pitted a lap later and stopped longer to have more fuel just before the final caution flag on Lap 125, finished second on the 2.5-mile track in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, where he has a record seven victories.
“I knew it would be really hard to get that track position back,” Hamlin said. “It was just so hard to pass, so we did all we could. We were just next best in line. It definitely was going to be difficult. There was a key moment when (Briscoe) and some other guys pitted, and the caution came out and leaped him in front of us. At that point, we knew it was going to be really hard to pass those guys back on the racetrack.
“Team did a great job, next best in line there of our strategy, it just didn’t work out. We’re really strong. Not showing up with any weaknesses right now. I’m really proud of the effort that we’ve put forth and yeah, just love to get more wins But still it was a good overall solid day for us.”
Here’s what drivers were saying after a rain-delayed race in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.
Ryan Blaney was third, followed by Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott. Joe Hunter Nemechek, Kyle Larson, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski and Austin Cindric rounded out the top 10 as the 400-mile race finished on a 30-lap run under green.
The race started more than two hours late because of rain showers, but the weather was perfect after the green flag waved at 4:30 p.m. ET.
It was a rough day for 23XI Racing, which occupied the last two places in the finishing order because of brake problems for Bubba Wallace (36th) and Riley Herbst (37th). Both drivers hit the wall after suffering tire problems related to the brakes.
Wallace was able to drive his No. 23 Toyota to the garage and then made a brisk walk to the care center after exiting. His playoff hopes took a major hit after he entered Pocono just above the cutline with 10 races remaining in the regular season.
Teammate Tyler Reddick also encountered mechanical problems before the end of Stage 2, falling three laps down and outside the top 30 for repairs.
Stage 1 winner: Hamlin
Stage 2 winner: Briscoe
Next up: Saturday, June 28, 7 p.m. ET at Atlanta Motor Speedway on TNT.
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