Briscoe Back-to-Back in NASCAR Chase After Close Charlotte Finish

CONCORD, N.C. -- Chase Briscoe went back-to-back in the Chase for the NASCAR Cup Series championship with a win in a close finish to Sunday's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Briscoe won for the second race in a row, claiming victory over Christopher Bell by 0.029 seconds. It was the second closest finish in the Cup Series' 67-year history at the track, behind only Jimmie Johnson's 2005 Coca-Cola 600 win over Bobby Labonte.

Briscoe's pit crew had a fast enough pit stop to get him the lead for the restart with 57 laps to go. He held off Bell on the restart but couldn't shake him until Bell's tires heated up too much. That gave Briscoe nearly a three-second lead.

However, lap traffic became a factor for the first time all day. That drastically changed the handling on Briscoe's car.

"When I got that final pack of kind of lap cars with five or six to go, I mean, I just felt like I was going to knock the wall down at any point. It just quit turning," Briscoe said.

Bell rallied to get to Briscoe but came up short, giving Briscoe yet another close win after two previous close wins last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and in July at Chicagoland Speedway.

Briscoe's average finish in the last four 1.5-mile non-drafting tracks is 1.75, setting him up as a clear favorite for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"What an amazing run we've been on. Should be three in a row and just glad we were able to redeem our to this team. Amazing job to this team. This pit crew has just been unbelievable. My hero is Tony Stewart. He made a pretty unbelievable run and hopefully we can do the same thing," Briscoe said.

Briscoe is now fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase points standings, 65 behind leader Kyle Larson. Even closer and more disappointed after the finish, Bell sits third in the standings, 51 behind Larson after a day that could've put him within 31 of him.

"I got a lot closer than I thought I was going to," Bell said, disappointed and short. "Hopefully we can keep bringing these fast racecars and keep doing what we need to do."

Bell is 51 points behind leader Kyle Larson, who now leads Denny Hamlin by 49. Larson led 97 of the first 123 laps but lost control of the race after Hamlin bumped him out of the way.

"All in all, a good day, stage [one] win, extend the points lead but always want to be better," Larson said. "I left the door open. I shaded high and then he had enough turn, I didn't get the door closed in time."

Larson finished sixth for his "worst" finish of the Chase so far, just behind Hamlin. Finishing fifth overall and third in the second stage but earning no stage points in the first stage, Hamlin lost nine points to Larson.

Hamlin had issues on pit road after inclement weather canceled qualifying and left pit selection and the lineup to the metric. In the first stage, he had to snake his way around Connor Zilisch exiting his pit box. Plus, his pit crew garnered an equipment interference penalty. 

"I wish we would've qualified. We would've gotten better pit selection but they worked with us," Hamlin said. "We gotta execute a little better, run faster, all of the above but we're doing everything we can right now."

Four Fords finished in the top-10 after charging to the front in the final run. Ryan Blaney and Josh Berry finished third and fourth while Joey Logano and Chris Buescher finished ninth and 10th.

Shane van Gisbergen finished seventh to earn back-to-back drafting oval top-10 finishes for the first time in his Cup Series career.

TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 267): Chase Briscoe (led 62 laps), Christopher Bell (led 93 laps), Ryan Blaney (led four laps), Josh Berry, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson (led 97 laps), Shane van Gisbergen, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher. 

Corey Heim finished 11th in yet another stellar part-time start for the future full-time driver for 23XI Racing driver. 

Chase Elliott rallied from 28th to 12th in the final run after getting a speeding penalty. 

Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric finished 16th and 17th, respectively, after running 10th and fifth when the race restarted for the final time. 

Michael McDowell finished 19th after a spat with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who finished 23rd and confronted him after the race ended. The spat ultimately ended with spinning Stenhouse out in turn three on the cooldown lap.

Chase drivers Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace and William Byron finished 34th, 37th and 39th, respectively, after crashing in the first stage. Wallace, Byron and Bowman crashed after completing just 76 laps. Everyone was okay.

Wallace led 11 laps before the crash that ended the final stage on lap 77, instead of lap 80.

STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 77): Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez, Corey Heim, Carson Hocevar, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney.

Blaney came back from a pit road penalty to finish 10th in the first stage.

STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 165): Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry, Chase Elliott, Carson Hocevar.

NEXT: Phoenix Raceway, Oct. 18, 3 p.m. ET on USA, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90, Motor Racing Network affiliates. Ryan Blaney won in the spring and last fall but Christopher Bell led the most laps.