With 25 laps to go, Chase Briscoe may have made the greatest pass of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The 29-year-old made a three-wide pass for the ages in turn three, getting by Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson before passing Ross Chastain for the race lead.
After a big crash in turn 2, Briscoe had the restart of his life, pulling away from the field and seemingly having victory in hand.
However, a man long deprived of victory, two-time champion Kyle Busch, charged with fresh tires, making his way to the back bumper of Briscoe’s No. 14.
As the tire wear evened off, Busch didn’t quite have enough speed to get around Briscoe, coming up one spot short for the second straight week.
The win is the second of Briscoe’s career and locks him into the 2024 playoffs, along with Martin Truex Jr., who clinched a spot earlier in the evening, and Gibbs, who hung on for the final points spot.
With Briscoe’s win, both Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher missed the cut for the 2024 Cup Series playoffs.
Truex Jr. provided the first major storyline of the night, getting loose in turn 1 on lap 2 before over-correcting and collecting the No. 12 of Ryan Blaney. Both drivers were knocked out of the race, putting Truex’s playoff positioning in doubt if a new winner were to visit victory lane.
Pole sitter Wallace led early, and the No. 23 led the field down pit road for green flag stops on lap 30. On lap 46, Larson took the lead for the first time and held it through the second round of green flag stops.
Larson won stage one, with Wallace, Briscoe, Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell rounding out the top five.
Larson beat Wallace off of pit road to retain the lead at the beginning of stage two.
On the restart, Larson would clear Wallace for the lead, with Briscoe and Reddick passing Wallace to get into the top three.
Todd Gilliland and Joey Logano were the first cars to pit under green in stage two, coming in for four fresh tires on lap 151. Larson would pit on lap 153, extending his lead over Briscoe to four seconds.
Brad Keselowski started the second round of green flag stops in the stage on lap 184, with Wallace and Buescher following suit on lap 185.
Larson held his lead over Briscoe after the stops, with the No. 14 falling back after missing pit road on lap 187.
Denny Hamlin would once more pit off sequence from the leaders, coming down pit road on lap 193. The No. 11 would fly through the field late in the stage, finishing third after making contact with Byron on lap 224.
Larson won stage two, with Briscoe, Hamlin, William Byron and Bell completing the top five.
Larson won the race off pit road, and Hamlin’s pit crew got the No. 11 car to second place for the restart.
Larson led the field to green on lap 238, but Briscoe provided a challenge to the No. 5, racing Larson side by side for a full lap before Larson was finally clear.
Keselowski and Chastain opted for a three-stop strategy in the race’s final stage, making their first pit stop of stage three with 97 laps to go.
Briscoe pitted from third with 95 laps to go, which ushered in Larson on the next lap. Buescher pitted with 89 laps to go, with the top two of Hamlin and Byron coming down pit road with 88 circuits remaining. With stops cycled out, Larson saw his lead grow to 2.5 seconds.
Wallace pitted with 87 laps to go, opting to use the same strategy as Hamlin of running long.
Hamlin passed Briscoe for second place with 67 laps to go, with Wallace moving back inside the top 10 as well.
With 60 laps to go, Wallace would move into seventh as Buescher fell to 16th. With just 53 laps left, Carson Hocevar went for a spin, bringing out just the second caution of the night for the cause. Larson’s pit crew put together another excellent start, giving the No. 5 the lead for the restart.
Despite a valiant effort from Hamlin on the restart, Larson cleared the No. 11 for the lead with 47 laps to go. Just one lap later, however, Buescher got into Gilliland on the backstretch, turning the No. 38 into the outside wall.
The back half of the lead pack pitted with 43 to go, including Buescher, who came down to ensure there was no terminal damage the the No. 17 Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
Larson would pull away from Hamlin on the restart, but Briscoe would provide a challenge, refusing to back down.
With 32 laps to go, the caution flag flew for another incident involving Hocevar. A right front tire failure damaged Hocevar’s Camaro, officially ending his competitive day.
Larson and Briscoe would retain the top two spots off pit road, but Chastain, sensing his opportunity to pull off a Hail Mary win, decided to stay out on older tires for the restart.
With 23 laps to go, however, a big crash sparked in turn two, collecting a multitude of cars, including Wallace, Byron, Gibbs and Josh Berry.
Of cars that decided to pit with 21 laps to go, Busch was first off pit road, restarting ninth. He was able to work his way up to second but was no match for Briscoe’s No. 14 at the end of the night.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.