Chase Briscoe is Hot at the Right Time After Charlotte — But the Hard Part Starts Now

CONCORD, N.C — Chase Briscoe is on a heater right now.

He just won the Bank of America 400 for his second straight NASCAR Cup Series victory and third win of the season. Briscoe led 62 laps and then beat his own teammate Christopher Bell by 0.029 seconds in a photo finish.

Closest finish of the year. Second-closest in Charlotte history.

The kind of win that feels big in the moment and even bigger when you look at the points.

Two weeks ago Briscoe was 123 points behind Kyle Larson. After Las Vegas and now Charlotte, that number is down to 65. He ripped 58 points out of the lead in two races. That’s how you force your way back into the conversation.

The speed has been there all year. Closing it out has been the problem.

For most of the season Briscoe would show up, run up front, and then something would go wrong or somebody would beat him late. That version of him is gone right now.

He finished sixth at Darlington, then had the rough stretch — 32nd at St. Louis, 27th at Bristol.

Since then it’s been a completely different story. Fourth at Kansas (and he could have won that one), then back-to-back wins at Las Vegas and Charlotte. Average finish of second over the last three races.

That’s not a fluke. That’s a driver and a team that have figured something out.

Now for the reality check.

Briscoe has been at his best on the mile-and-a-half tracks. Homestead is the only intermediate left on the schedule. The next few races don’t line up as cleanly with what he’s been good at lately. That doesn’t mean he can’t keep rolling, but it’s worth pointing out.

It’s also fair to wonder if this is actually enough to run Larson down. Even when Briscoe has won, Larson has kept cashing good finishes — second at Las Vegas, sixth at Charlotte.

The No. 5 team isn’t stumbling while Briscoe gets hot. They’re still doing what they’ve done for weeks: stay near the front and protect the lead. Making up 65 points on a guy who keeps finishing in the top 10 every single week is a hard ask.

Briscoe has done his part though. He responded when he had to. The gap looked almost impossible two weeks ago.

Now it’s large but not crazy if he keeps winning and Larson has one off day. The speed was never the question. The finishes are finally catching up to the speed. That’s why this feels different.

The hard part starts now.

Winning two in a row on intermediates is one thing. Keeping this going on tracks that don’t play as much into his current strength is another. Briscoe has put himself back in the fight. Staying there is going to take more of what we just saw at Charlotte.

For one afternoon, none of the bigger questions mattered. He was the best car, he closed when he had to, and he walked out of Charlotte with another win and a much smaller hole in the points.

That’s how you make people take you seriously again.