Calling Chase Briscoe’s start to the 2026 season underwhelming would be an understatement. From wrecks to mechanical failures, the Joe Gibbs Racing star faced multiple issues, recording P37 in his last two Cup races. Battling a woeful time, Briscoe, however, received a silver lining following his O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race against Kyle Larson at Las Vegas, something he will bank on to gain impetus for Sunday.

Briscoe’s duel against Larson poised to be an impetus

In a recent interview with Frontstretch, Briscoe touched upon his O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race from Saturday, where he explained his performance and how he went out in a duel against Kyle Larson. Even though he lost out to Larson, he took positives from the race.

“It’s so different, and I never really got close enough. I mean, I passed him early in the race, but at the end, I wasn’t able to really be that close to him. So yeah, I don’t know. They drive so drastically different. It’s hard to really take anything away from today. Regardless, it’s nice confidence booster with how our Cup season obviously started, and yeah, hopefully be able to transition in once about better tomorrow.”

Following this, Briscoe highlighted his O’Reilly Auto Parts Series duel against Larson, where he shed light on how most of the racers at that series are inexperienced according to his level, and then there is a guy like Larson, the defending Cup Series champion, whom he was up against.

“It’s Kyle Larson for you, he’s just really really good and especially at this level right like the caliber of the field is just more inexperienced right. So you have a guy that’s experienced there they’re able to just make smarter decisions and put themselves in the right spots at the right time and obviously make his car better. And truthfully I didn’t feel like he was the best car today but yeah he was the one that put a full day together, and that’s something that I didn’t do on the 19th car. So yeah, just gotta be better on my end, especially when you’re racing guys like Kyle Larson.”

NASCAR hosted the 2026 The LiUNA! At Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the fifth race of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, on Saturday, where the Cup Series drivers took all the limelight. Larson won the race ahead of Briscoe, while Sheldon Creed came home in third.

Having qualified in 23rd place, Briscoe was out of the Top 10 at the end of Stage 1. In Stage 2, the JGR driver finished in second place, right behind Justin Allgaier. Coming into the third stage, he remained in the same spot, while Larson eased past him to take the victory.

A victory here would have given Briscoe a huge impetus, given how his Cup Series races have been in the past — from an early wreck at Daytona, transaxle failure at COTA, to tire failure and then a crash at Phoenix, Briscoe saw it all.

Keeping the bad days behind, Chase Briscoe would want to start afresh and take impetus from the O’Reilly race on Saturday. However, his teammate, Christopher Bell, can be an obstacle for him.

Christopher Bell can be a roadblock for Briscoe

As Chase Briscoe looks to have a successful day at Las Vegas, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Christopher Bell, can be a roadblock for him in the race. Having qualified in the pole, the #20 will be eager to take home his first win of the season, and is certainly placed better than Briscoe, who has qualified in 18th place, behind Ross Chastain and ahead of Carson Hocevar.

“I’ve talked about this a lot through the last couple of races, but just super, super proud of my team,” Bell told the media after claiming the pole. “We’re finally getting back to where we need to be and it feels good. We used to be able to qualify really well on these intermediates, and then, I don’t know, it feels we fell a little bit off and now we got it back My engineers, crew chief, my mechanics, my pit crew — everybody has been doing such a good job in 2026. It’s so fun to drive this #20 car, and I’m excited about tomorrow.”

Interestingly, Briscoe will also have the challenges of Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs, his other JGR teammates, against him in the race. Hamlin and Gibbs qualified in second and third place, making it a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2-3 at Las Vegas. With that said, it will be interesting to see if Briscoe can churn out an impressive result on Sunday.