Chase Briscoe finally got the kind of ending he had been desperate for at Las Vegas. After watching a late Kyle Larson charge slip away at Kansas one week earlier, Briscoe dominated the South Point 400 and held on for a crucial Chase victory. But the celebration nearly looked very different in the closing laps. Briscoe had spent the race studying the cars behind him and trying to preserve his options, only for Bubba Wallace to launch an unexpected attack that caught the No. 19 driver completely off guard.
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“This is one where Bubba almost caught me sleeping. I didn’t think he was close enough to do anything. So I kind of went in there, and as soon as I saw him turn off to the left, I knew that was going to be his best chance. And it’s crazy. I thought I was getting wrecked right there,” Chase Briscoe told Eric Estepp.
Chase Briscoe had dominated the South Point 400, but with 29 laps remaining, his redemption from Kansas nearly disappeared in Turn 1. He had spent most of the afternoon controlling the race. Briscoe swept both stages, led a race-high 175 of 267 laps and appeared to have enough speed to keep Kyle Larson and the rest of the field behind him.
But the final green-flag pit cycle reshuffled the running order, putting Bubba Wallace directly behind the No. 19 Toyota for the fight to the finish. Wallace had strong pace in the final stint and steadily began closing the gap.
Briscoe knew the No. 23 was usually strongest through the bottom lane in Turns 1 and 2, while he had been running more toward the middle. That meant Briscoe was constantly watching his mirror, trying to understand where Wallace was gaining ground without giving him an easy opportunity to attack.
Then came Lap 238. Wallace was suddenly right on Briscoe’s rear bumper and made his move into Turn 1. The No. 23 Toyota dove toward the inside, looking for the opening that could have changed the entire race. Briscoe was caught off guard.
He had not believed Wallace was close enough to make a serious attempt, but the moment he saw the No. 23 turn left, he understood exactly what was happening. Briscoe immediately committed to the bottom and went wide open, even though he knew doing so could make the car run through the corner.
His priority was no longer taking the fastest line. It was avoiding contact. Briscoe’s reaction kept Wallace from completing the pass, but it was an incredibly close call.
The leader had already spent much of the race deliberately lifting earlier into the corner so he would not become committed to one lane. That flexibility gave him the chance to react when Wallace finally attacked. Wallace later admitted that this was essentially his final shot.
“I just try to replay every scenario, and, uh, his car was just good enough to keep that buffer out in front of us, and I tried to make one last charge at him, catch him sleeping in 1, and it just didn’t work and got super tight, and that ultimately paid a price on our front tires,” Wallace said after the race.
The move did more than fail to produce the pass. It hurt Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota. His car skidded up the track after the dive, and the aggressive attempt took a toll on the front tires. Wallace went from challenging Briscoe for the victory to struggling to maintain his pace during the closing laps. He ultimately finished eighth, more than 11 seconds behind the winner.
Briscoe, meanwhile, escaped. And that escape mattered enormously. One week earlier at Kansas, Briscoe had looked destined to beat Larson before the No. 5 Chevrolet mounted a late comeback and took the victory with seven laps remaining. Briscoe finished fourth and left the track 123 points behind Larson, knowing he had let another major opportunity slip away.
Las Vegas gave him the response he needed. Briscoe held on to win by 1.376 seconds over Larson, securing his second victory of the 2026 season and seventh of his Cup career. More importantly, he swept both stages and collected 75 points, moving him two positions forward in the Chase standings with five races remaining.
In the end, the incident for Briscoe was the final scare in a race that had otherwise belonged to him. For Wallace, it was the moment when his best opportunity to steal the victory disappeared. And for the No. 19 team, surviving that one corner turned a potential Kansas-style heartbreak into the redemption Briscoe desperately needed.