By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Pole sitter Chase Briscoe had a lot of highs and lows in Sunday’s Daytona 500. From being involved in an early wreck to avoiding a last-lap crash, the Joe Gibbs Racing debutant finished fourth to kick off the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series campaign.
As a result of Briscoe’s top-five finish, the drought of a driver winning the 200-lap race from pole is now at 25 years with Dale Jarrett remaining the last driver to do so.
However, it also marked the best finish from a Daytona 500 pole sitter since Jarrett won the race. One spot better than Bill Elliott in 2001 and Alex Bowman in 2023.
Briscoe led the 41-car field to the green flag and led the opening four laps. Once he lost the lead to Ty Dillon, the Indiana racer would never get to lead the fray at Daytona.
The scenario was worsened by the fact Briscoe was collected in a multi-car crash at the start of Stage 2.
A large stack up bunched the pack up and caused an accordion effect that ended the days of Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., and four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves.
Briscoe tried avoiding the wreck but ended up sliding into the Turn 1 grass. He soldiered on from the carnage and ran quietly for much of the 200-lap race that gradually saw him in the top-10.
One wreck after another, Briscoe avoided the madness and on the final restart, he was in a decent spot for a strong result. As far as a shot of a Daytona 500 victory, an opportunity didn’t fall on his lap as he was stuck in a frenzy with Cole Custer, who was leading the top lane and rubbed fenders with him.
The contact pinched Briscoe into Austin Cindric as all hell broke loose from there. Briscoe was able to power through Cindric and the carnage behind him, but the leaders had pulled away and was passed by Jimmie Johnson for third.
Instead of a Daytona 500 victory, Briscoe settled for a top-five finish and described the final restart as crazy.
“We restarted I think eighth and the seas kind of just kept parting for me. Everything honestly went my way up until the very end there down the back straightaway,” Briscoe explained.
Additionally, Briscoe said he was trying to help his new teammate Denny Hamlin to be in a spot to win “The Great American Race,” but the contact ended all of that.
After the race, the two had a conversation about the matter before they went on with their merry way. Despite coming up short of winning his team debut, Briscoe was proud of his start of the season.
“They all split off kind of three-wide and the 11 (Denny Hamlin) car was just sitting there for me, and I was like, ‘I’m going to push Denny to the win. JGR is going to win with my first race here.’
“When I hit him, we all came together – I haven’t seen it yet – and somehow I was able to keep it straight and obviously move forward. A great way for us to start the year.
“Obviously, I would’ve loved to win the race, but for us to come here and run in the top five is really cool for our first race. Hopefully this is what we’ll be doing all year long.”
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