Briscoe Goes Back-To-Back In Photo Finish At Charlotte

Chase Briscoe (19) beats Christopher Bell to the checkered flag Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Danny Hansen/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

By Jacob Seelman, SWN News Editor

CONCORD, N.C. (Oct. 11, 2026) – All it took to liven up Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Chase round on the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval was the second-closest finish in track history, with the current hottest driver in the sport at the center of it all.

Chase Briscoe stormed to his second straight Cup Series triumph in the Bank of America 400, besting Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell in a photo finish after slogging through slower lap traffic in the waning moments.

Bell came from two seconds back inside the final 10 laps to make a run at Briscoe, charging the inside of the final corner and pulling alongside Briscoe’s No. 19 with his No. 20 coming to start-finish.

But the run wasn’t quite enough, as Bell fell a half car length short while Briscoe collected his eighth career Cup Series win and third of 2026 in dramatic fashion.

Briscoe’s margin of victory was .029 seconds, bested only by the .027-second gap that Jimmie Johnson edged Bobby Labonte by in the 2005 Coca-Cola 600.

“I don’t know what it is about these finishes. I got to quit making it so exciting at the end,” Briscoe said after climbing from his car. “Just an amazing car. So cool to get Freebird into victory lane. They’re a relatively new company and really new to NASCAR. So yeah, going to be a good Freebird chug here. But what an amazing run we’ve been on. Should be three [wins] in a row and just glad we were able to redeem ourselves [from the miss at Kansas].

“Amazing job to this team. This pit crew has just been unbelievable.”

Before the late fireworks, Sunday’s postseason return to the 1.5-mile oval for the first time in nine years was almost forgettable.

With qualifying washed out, the field set by the metric, and a green racetrack early on, polesitter Kyle Larson dominated early by leading 95 of the first 107 laps and cruising to the stage-one victory.

But the handling on Larson’s Chevrolet began to fade as the race wound past halfway, allowing Bell and Briscoe to rise into contention as the ones to beat in the second half.

Bell led two large chunks of action, highlighted by winning stage two, but the turning point came with 63 laps to go after a Gray Gaulding spin forced the sixth and final caution of the day – setting up the longest green-flag run all afternoon to the finish.

But before that, Briscoe’s No. 19 team got him off pit lane ahead of Bell with an exceptional four-tire stop, a jump that ultimately won Briscoe the race by giving him prime track position.

Briscoe took off on the final restart with 57 laps left, set sail in clean air, and Bell’s pursuit turned out to not quite be enough.

The Oklahoma native’s frustration at falling short was plain to see afterward as well.

“I got a lot closer than I thought I was going to,” a terse Bell said. “We should be really good at the next couple of races. Hopefully, we can keep bringing these fast race cars and see what happens.”

The Fords of Ryan Blaney and Josh Berry crossed third and fourth, respectively, with Denny Hamlin giving JGR three of the top-five finishers by coming home in fifth place.

Though Larson faded to sixth at the checkered flag, he remains well in command of the Chase standings with four races to go this season, leading Hamlin by 49 points.

But Briscoe was quick to tell fans he’s not ready to lay down just yet, as he’s risen to fourth in points and sits 65 off Larson’s pace – less than a full race, if he keeps winning at the clip he has been the past two weeks.

“My hero is Tony Stewart. He made a pretty unbelievable run, and hopefully we can do the same thing,” Briscoe noted, recalling Stewart’s miraculous Chase run in 2011 that resulted in five wins over the final 10 races and a third Cup Series championship.

“We’re not out of this just yet.”

Shane van Gisbergen, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, and Chris Buescher closed the top 10 Sunday.

NASCAR Cup Series teams head west for the final time next Sunday for the Freeway Insurance 500, airing Oct. 18 at 3 p.m. ET live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

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