Chase Briscoe Delivers on Son’s Promise, Breaking History With 51-YO Southern 500 Record

“Last year, nobody expected us (to win)…we weren’t coming into Darlington and being like, This is our weekend.” When Chase Briscoe won the 2024 Southern 500, it was in the most unexpected situation. Stewart-Haas Racing was crumbling, and Briscoe’s win was a last tribute to the team. In 2025, however, pressure came from a lot of sides for the NASCAR race in Darlington. From the winning trends in Joe Gibbs Racing to his son Brooks’ demands, there were a lot of expectations. And Briscoe fulfilled them recently.

Chase Briscoe won his way into the playoffs at Pocono Raceway, leading a race-best 72 laps. Little did anyone guess that this domination would become Briscoe’s characteristic skill in 2025, as he put on yet another thriller in Darlington!

Chase Briscoe seals his first playoff trophy

Before the 2025 Cook Out Southern 500 kicked off, Denny Hamlin dominated the headlines. The five-time Darlington winner won the pole for the NASCAR race, and with his April victory, Hamlin looked poised to win in August as well. However, Chase Briscoe shoved him off the lead just 7 laps into the race. Thence began a long battle between the two, with Briscoe winning Stage 1, and Hamlin briefly snatching the lead on lap 124. However, the JGR veteran’s chances fizzled out with a disastrous pit stop. From then onwards, it was mostly Briscoe’s game.

Chase Briscoe led for 309 of 367 laps, navigating voltage issues and holding off Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones to win the race. He defended his Southern 500 victory in style, as he broke a 51-year-old historical record. Stephen Stumpf highlighted that on X: “This is the first time since 1973-74 (Cale Yarborough, Richard Howard & Junior Johnson) that a driver has won the #Southern500 back-to-back with two different car owners.” What is more, Briscoe also became only the second driver since 1990 to lead for 200+ laps and win. Seven drivers were in this list, of which only Kevin Harvick had won previously in 2014.

After climbing out of the No. 19 JGR Toyota, Chase Briscoe beamed with joy. His son Brooks flashed the victory sign to a roaring crowd of fans. He told FOX, “Man, there at the end, that was way harder than it needed to be…Just an incredible Bass Pro Shops Toyota. As a fan, I have watched Martin dominate a lot of the races, but it was fun to finally be behind the wheel of it…So cool to win two Southern 500s in a row. This is my favorite race of the year, just because of the race fans. Every time we come here, the place is sold out. Just the atmosphere here is unlike anywhere else. Yeah, just a great way to start our playoffs. And man, I had a lot of fun.” 

While Chase Briscoe rejoices in his victory, his fellow Toyota driver chafes under regret. Nevertheless, the latter extended a salute to Briscoe.

A well-run NASCAR race

Tyler Reddick has been in the doldrums in 2025. Despite displaying great consistency with 9 top tens and 5 top fives, the 23XI Racing driver was way off from his 2024 pace. He won the regular season championship last year, winning three races alongside. Comparatively, Reddick was not able to win in 2025, entering the playoffs on points. That is why we saw a fierce side of Reddick in Darlington, as he clenched his teeth and trailed Chase Briscoe all along. He was almost derailed on Lap 1 when Josh Berry got loose and made contact, causing minor damage to the No. 45 Toyota. Reddick recovered, pulled through, and charged at Briscoe.

For most of the NASCAR race, we could see the Toyota star hounding Chase Briscoe from the back. However, Tyler Reddick could not get it done. In his post-race interview, the runner-up finisher hailed Briscoe’s run: “The one time we got ahead of (Briscoe), we were just a little too tight, and he was able to get back by us. I think he were better than he was on long runs, he could just fire off a lot better. That was the difference tonight. I could get close. It unfortunately seemed that last run, the balance wasn’t quite as good as it’s been. Overall a really solid night for points in the playoffs. But man, yeah, I really want to win here. It’s frustrating to finish second, going for it. I wish I could have been just a little bit closer.”

Tyler Reddick has scope to make up for this marginal loss. Meanwhile, with two crown jewels under his belt, Chase Briscoe is already a big asset to JGR. We cannot wait to see what he does next in the playoffs!