Chase Briscoe had already learned the hard way what happens when victory disappears in the final laps. After watching a Kansas win slip away the previous week, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver found himself in another late-race fight at Las Vegas, with Kyle Larson closing rapidly and the pressure building by the second. This time, Briscoe held on, much to the relief of crew chief James Small. Small later joked that if Briscoe had thrown away another win, he might have been facing “murder charges.”
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“Uh, that I might be up on murder charges. So, um- … I was a little worried I was gonna have to throw him off this building if he gave that one away after last week. But, uh, yeah, it was, uh, stressful,” Chase Briscoe’s crew chief James Small replied when asked what was going through his mind during the frantic closing laps at Las Vegas.
The joke carried a serious undertone because Small had already experienced the frustration of watching a promising Briscoe victory unravel at the very end. From atop the pit box at Kansas, he could only watch as the No. 19 Toyota began bleeding positions during the closing laps, with the situation deteriorating faster than he could understand. Small admitted afterward that he was still trying to make sense of what had happened.
“I’m not sure what happened at the end,” Small said after the race. “Got in the wall a few too many times there and it kind of fell apart like a $2 watch.”
That collapse had left the No. 19 team with plenty to think about heading into Las Vegas. At Kansas, Briscoe had taken the lead from Kyle Larson on Lap 238 and held it for 23 laps. However, his Toyota became increasingly loose during the closing run.
Larson eventually got back to him and made the winning pass with seven laps remaining. Briscoe then hit the wall and slipped to fourth, turning what had looked like a breakthrough victory into another painful missed opportunity. One week later, Briscoe found himself in another late-race pressure cooker.
After leading 175 of 267 laps and sweeping both stages at Las Vegas, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver once again had Larson closing rapidly behind him. The Hendrick Motorsports star got within 0.346 seconds during the final 11 laps. He then began running the high line and looked capable of turning another Briscoe victory into another late heartbreak.
Briscoe had already dealt with Bubba Wallace earlier in the final run, but Larson arrived with clean air and considerably more momentum. Briscoe, meanwhile, had to manage the traffic ahead while keeping the No. 5 behind him, knowing exactly how quickly a late-race lead could disappear. This time, however, the No. 19 team found a way to survive.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver made his final attempt coming through Turn 4 on the last lap. However, he got loose, hit the outside wall, and collected Tyler Reddick. Briscoe drove through the chaos and took the checkered flag 1.376 seconds ahead of Larson. It was his seventh Cup Series victory, his second of 2026 and his first at Las Vegas. For Briscoe, the relief went well beyond simply winning another race.
“Last week was not a very fun mental place to be after kinda throwing one away. So yeah, really cool, like I said, to get in Victory Lane.”
He later admitted that Kansas had remained in the back of his mind throughout the closing laps at Las Vegas. The concern was not only about losing another race. Briscoe said he did not want his team to begin losing confidence in him after two consecutive late-race defeats.
“I just feel like your confidence from the team guys, like, in their driver can go away really quickly,” Briscoe explained. He added that if he had somehow lost again, he would have been “black and blue” getting on the plane.
Instead, Briscoe leaves Las Vegas with his Chase campaign transformed. He entered the race eighth in the standings, 123 points behind Larson. By winning both stages and the race, he collected a massive points haul and jumped two positions to sixth.
He now trails Larson by just 84 points with five Chase races remaining. More importantly, Briscoe has put himself back within striking distance of the other contenders as well. Joey Logano sits 71 points behind Larson, Ryan Blaney is 80 back, and Briscoe is only four points behind Blaney.
For Small, that means the nightmare from Kansas has finally been answered. The crew chief who could only watch his car “fall apart like a $2 watch” one week earlier was instead watching Briscoe withstand another Larson charge and deliver when it mattered most. At least he won’t have to contemplate those “murder charges” after Vegas.