Winners and losers from a tricky NASCAR Cup weekend at Pocono

While Chase Briscoe earned his first win since joining Joe Gibbs Racing, teams like 23XI Racing just want to put this race in the rearview. Pocono delivered some fuel-mileage drama, big hits, and a new winner, but no further escalation in the Carson Hocevar/Ricky Stenhouse Jr. feud.

There are now nine races left in the regular season, including two drafting tracks and three road/street courses, and just five spots left in the NASCAR Cup playoff field. But before we move on to Atlanta, let’s take one last look at Pocono’s biggest winners and losers:

WINNER: Chase Briscoe for handling the pressure and finding Victory Lane

Briscoe made a mistake on his final pit stop, pulling away when the jack dropped instead of waiting on fuel. This could have ruined his entire race, but the driver of the No. 19 didn’t let it rattle him. Instead, he put his head down, listened to crew chief James Small, and impressively saved enough to reach the checkered flag with gas to spare for a victory burnout. It took 17 attempts, but he is now a winner in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing.

LOSER: Brad Keselowski for a rather unusual error while leading

Keselowski made two errors on Sunday. The first was pitting when he should have stayed out, and the second was staying out when he should have pitted. It was a strange sight watching the No. 6 pit from the lead as no other cars followed as the pits were actually closed. Keselowski did rebound, only to stay out longer than his crew chief wanted him to during the final round of green-flag pit stops, which led to him catching the bad end of a caution. He still rallied back to finish ninth, but it could have been so much more.

WINNER: Prime Video for knocking it out of the park for five straight weeks

Nascar prime logo

Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images

Prime Video was a breath of fresh air. With their five-race run in the rearview, it’s clear that NASCAR has a bright future with the streaming giant. The broadcast was well done, the booth was energetic and informative, the commercials didn’t ruin the viewing experience and the lengthy post-race shows were quite the treat. It’s just a just shame that we’re having to say goodbye after only five races, but they’ve raised the benchmark for the modern NASCAR broadcast.

LOSER: 23XI because they just can’t stop…literally

Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota

Photo by: Jonathan Bachman – Getty Images

Pocono was a race to forget for 23XI Racing. Riley Herbst was the first driver to fall out of the race after a brake rotor exploded, only for his teammate Bubba Wallace to follow up soon after with another hard crash. They scored just two points each, which really hurt Wallace as he is in the middle of a tense points battle for the final few playoffs spots. Tyler Reddick went to the garage to try and address the issue and while he finished the race without wrecking, he ended the day off the lead lap and in 32nd place.

John Hunter Nemechek, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Toyota

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

The No. 42 team is really overachieving lately, and it no longer feels like a fluke. Nemechek has back-to-back sixth-place finishes and even started fourth at Pocono in his best qualifying effort of the year. If this team can keep it up, then we’ll see Legacy Motor Club crack the top 20 in points soon enough. By comparison, Nemechek ended the 2024 season 34th in the final standings.

LOSER: Kyle Busch as trouble keeps finding him

Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

The two-time Cup Series champion can’t seem to go a single weekend without something going wrong. After finishing last in Mexico City after losing control in wet conditions and causing a six-car crash, Busch was in the middle of another incident at Pocono. He was trying to fight back from a speeding penalty when KB ended up in a bad aero spot and spun exiting the Tunnel Turn in an incident involving three other cars. He managed to carry on and finished 20th, but at this point, it would be nice to see the No. 8 go a full weekend without any major dramas.

WINNER: Dale Jr. for becoming a race-winning crew chief in his first try

Watch: Dale Jr. talks total team effort after first crew chief victory

Looking away from the Cup Series race for one moment to give a huge shoutout to Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The NASCAR Hall of Famer has won plenty of races as both a driver and owner, but while working as a fill-in crew chief with Connor Zilisch, the duo won in Earnhardt’s very first race atop the pit box. It was a great moment and one Earnhardt truly seemed to enjoy.

LOSER: William Byron and whatever happened there

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Byron’s Pocono weekend started with him leading the way in practice, and then it was all downhill from there. The No. 24 Hendrick Chevrolet crashed in qualifying and after the team did great work to repair the primary car, Byron proceeded to march forward from the rear of the field. He showed good pace but after the team chose to pit just before the end of Stage 2, Byron essentially disappeared. He remained buried deep in the field and while all three of his teammates finished 11th or higher, he only lost spots in the final run of the race. He faded to 27th by the time the checkered flag flew.