Briscoe Is Good To The Last Drop In Pennsylvania

Chase Briscoe celebrates with a burnout after winning Sunday at Pocono Raceway. (Wyatt Tinsley/Race Face Digital photo)

LONG POND, Pa. – Fuel strategy might have gotten tricky for Chase Briscoe late at the ‘Tricky Triangle’, but that didn’t stop him from outlasting teammate Denny Hamlin Sunday en route to his first win with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Briscoe led a race-high 72 laps in the Great American Getaway 400 on his way to his first win at Pocono Raceway and the third of his NASCAR Cup Series career.

The Mitchell, Ind., native took over the lead for good during the final caution period, in which he left his pit box too early, giving him track position but causing him to have less fuel than necessary to finish the race.

But thanks to a fuel saving clinic, Briscoe kept teammate and runner-up Denny Hamlin behind him for the whole run and ended up securing the victory by .682 seconds at the checkered flag.

It was a disciplined run for Briscoe, but one that came with nerves along the way.

“It was a lot,” said Briscoe of the waning laps. “It was kind of weird. I wasn’t driving hard. It’s not like I was on the ragged edge. It was so hard to have a guy chasing you – probably the guy that’s the greatest of all time here – and trying to save fuel and everything else. But it worked out.

Chase Briscoe celebrates in victory lane Sunday at Pocono Raceway. (Matthew Thacker/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

“Thank you to all the race fans. It’s unbelievable racing in front of a sold-out crowd. This is an amazing day for our race team, really the first race we’ve executed, truthfully, all year long,” he added. “To get Bass Pro Shops, Johnny Morris, in victory lane means a lot. Joe Gibbs Racing took a big chance on me. Like, I wasn’t everybody’s first choice, I think.

“For me to be able to get here and finally deliver a win is just an awesome feeling.”

Hamlin expected to be the leader after the final round of stops, and then waited in the wings behind Briscoe for the last 30 laps, unable to make a move to pass him and then waiting to see if his JGR teammate would run out of fuel.

Briscoe never slowed, however, and Hamlin had to settle for second in the Keystone State.

“When five cars pitted and then the caution came (for a spin by Shane van Gisbergen) and the No. 19 (Briscoe) and a bunch of guys jumped in front of us, I knew it would be really hard to get that track position back,” Hamlin admitted. “It was just so hard to pass, so we did all we could.

“We were just next best in line.”

Ryan Blaney finished third and was on the hot seat all afternoon, considering his cool suit failed in the first stage. Chris Buescher capped off an impressive points day in fourth, with Chase Elliott finishing just inside the top five after a disappointing 18th-place qualifying effort Saturday.

It was another step forward for Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek as he finished in sixth, followed by Kyle Larson, who crossed seventh after starting 24th.

The Roush Fenway Keselowski duo of team owner Brad Keselowski and Ryan Preece came in eighth and ninth, respectively, and Austin Cindric quietly rounded out the top 10.

All three 23XI Racing cars suffered brake failures during the race, which knocked Riley Herbst and Bubba Wallace out of the running and left Tyler Reddick a lap down in 32nd. Michael McDowell also left the race with a failure, though for his No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet it was a tire failure, not brakes.

Van Gisbergen’s spin in turn one was the only caution in the final stage, with seven total yellow flags for 31 laps. The biggest incident was a four-car crash in turn two on lap 83 that swept up the likes of Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch, among others.

Hamlin won the first stage and Briscoe topped stage two on his way to the overall race victory.

Next week, the Cup Series heads back to EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) for its second and final visit to the facility this year. Last time, Bell was victorious in a final-lap duel with Carson Hocevar that ended under caution.

The race also marks the beginning of NASCAR’s first in-season tournament, paying out a $1 million bonus to the winner of the five-race gauntlet.

Broadcast coverage from EchoPark Speedway airs Saturday, June 28 at 7 p.m. ET, live on TNT Sports, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.