Chase Briscoe Falters Late at Kansas, Settles for Fourth Place Run

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

Chase Briscoe had the win in sight with the laps winding down in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, but ultimately it wasn’t meant to be for him and the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

After starting the day all the way back in 23^rd place with the starting lineup set by the metric due to weather washing out qualifying, Briscoe had his work cut out for him, but with the strength of the Toyotas on the 1.5-mile ovals, he was able to work his way forward as the day progressed.

Briscoe would finish inside the top-five in the second stage and maintained that presence throughout the final stage, positioning himself as one of the lone drivers that could hang with the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Kyle Larson, who had swept both of the first two stages.

Both Briscoe and Larson ducked onto pit road for the final time on Lap 217, with Larson getting the jump once they returned to the track.

However, Briscoe would not be denied as he chased Larson down and passed him with 30 laps to go to catapult himself into the lead, seeking his first win since Chicagoland in early July.

For the next 23 laps, Briscoe was able to keep Larson in his rear-view, but as Larson kept up the pressure, lapped traffic would come into play, allowing Larson to take a swing at recapturing the lead.

With seven laps to go, Larson powered his way past Briscoe on the backstretch and put the No. 5 back on top of the leaderboard, as Briscoe scrubbed the outside wall trying to stay in the fight.

The pass that sealed the deal for @KyleLarsonRacin. pic.twitter.com/5LueoEmJrS

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 27, 2026

As Larson set sail with the lead, Briscoe struggled to hang onto second-place, bouncing off the wall a few more times in the final laps, eventually falling to fourth-place at the finish, leaving him with a disappointing end to what was shaping up to be a promising day.

“Just went really, really loose,” Briscoe said. “I kind of had that the run before when we did the green flag pit stop. I got it in the wall so many times that I had a little bit of a leak. Just went really, really free ultimately.

“It was better for me to be in second. Just being behind him, especially with how much the aero blocking, it would just tighten me up and allow me to actually be a little bit better. And then as soon as I would get the lead, I would just go really, really free again.”

Briscoe now sits 123 points behind the lead with six races remaining in the season, which he noted was going to be a tough hill to climb between now and when the checkered flag falls at Homestead, but he wouldn’t be giving up hope just yet.

“I thought today, I think I was 87 out going into it, and I felt like I had to at least knock off 10 from the cut line. I didn’t get points the first stage, which I knew that was going to be hard,” said Briscoe.

“Ultimately, I had to win to be able to even stay somewhat around 80 or 90 back. I don’t know, it’s still possible, but you’re going to have to win five or so of the next six races. A little Tony Stewart 2011 run or something. We’ll see what we can do and yeah, go on to the next one.”