Chase Briscoe won Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, completing a sweep of all three stages and holding off championship leader Kyle Larson by 1.376 seconds.
Briscoe led 175 of 267 laps in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and secured his second victory of the 2026 season. Larson finished second despite hitting the wall near the finish, while Tyler Reddick crossed the line third after contact with Larson sent him spinning through the infield grass.
Briscoe controls the race
Briscoe took command during the opening stage after early trouble disrupted the races of Larson and polesitter Denny Hamlin. Larson struggled with his car’s balance and lost a lap during a 26-second pit stop in which his team made suspension adjustments.
Hamlin recovered to fourth late in the stage but spun from the high line and slid onto the apron. NASCAR did not call a caution, and Briscoe went on to win the stage ahead of Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric.
Briscoe remained at the front during a second stage shaped by differing pit and tire strategies. Cindric inherited the lead as his group tried to complete a long run, but Briscoe caught him and made the pass with three laps remaining to claim another stage win.
Late pressure builds
Briscoe led the field into the final stage while several contenders dealt with setbacks. Christopher Bell’s crew worked on a power-steering problem during an extended stop, but the issue persisted. He finished 23rd.
Hamlin also lost positions after briefly suffering a loss of fuel pressure under caution. He eventually finished 16th after starting from pole, having led a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep of the first four positions in qualifying.
Briscoe initially opened a five-second advantage during the final stage. The gap later came down as challengers emerged and traffic complicated the closing run, leaving Larson within range near the finish.
Larson and Reddick tangle at the line
Larson’s final attempt ended with his Chevrolet hitting the wall behind Briscoe. Reddick then struck the rear of Larson’s car and spun across the infield grass.
Neither driver lost a position in the incident. Larson retained second place, 1.376 seconds behind Briscoe, and Reddick finished third. Cindric placed fourth, with Blaney completing the top five.
William Byron finished sixth, followed by Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Shane van Gisbergen and Joey Logano. The victory was Briscoe’s first NASCAR Cup win at Las Vegas and the seventh of his Cup career.
Briscoe rebounds after Kansas
The result followed a near miss for Briscoe at Kansas Speedway one week earlier, where Larson passed him with seven laps remaining and won the race. This time, Briscoe converted a dominant performance into victory and earned the maximum available race points by winning each stage and the race.
“I was scared to death to see him [crew chief Cole Pearn] if I didn't pull that one off,” Briscoe said in comments reported by Motorsport.com. “What an amazing day.”
Briscoe also thanked the spectators who attended in hot conditions and described the closing contest as a “cat and mouse” battle. He said the team had not achieved the results it wanted earlier in the year and welcomed the opportunity to return its partners to victory lane.
Larson extends championship lead
Larson left Las Vegas with 2,318 points and a 40-point advantage over Hamlin, who has 2,278. Bell remained third with 2,263 points, 55 behind Larson.
Briscoe moved up two positions to sixth in the standings with 2,234 points. His deficit to Larson stands at 84 points with five races remaining in the 36-race season.
Larson’s second-place finish continued a run in which he had recorded a 2.2 average finish through the first five races of the 10-race NASCAR Cup Chase. The championship leader gained ground on Hamlin and Bell even though Briscoe collected the maximum points available at Las Vegas.
The next stage of the Chase
The Las Vegas event was the fifth race of the postseason and the 31st race of the full schedule. The series is due to continue its championship run at Charlotte, where Larson will carry the points lead and Briscoe will begin the final five races from sixth place after his Las Vegas sweep.
