Standing by his Bass Pro Shops No. 19 Toyota Camry on pit road post-race, bathed in the late day warm Northern California sun, Chase Briscoe pondered his second-place finish and the utter domination of Trackhouse Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen. He leaned into an example of a NASCAR team owner, but it was not his own boss but the co-owner of fellow Toyota Team 23XI Racing.
“I’m honestly proud of running second to that guy (SVG) because it’s like we’re playing basketball against Michael Jordan,” Briscoe said.
Briscoe’s runner-up was a Joe Gibbs Racing team best with teammate Christopher Bell coming home fifth in his 200th Cup start. Ty Gibbs finished seventh, while Denny Hamlin had a forgettable day in 20th.
Simply put, no one in the field had remotely anything for SVG, who led all but 13 of the 110 laps.
For much of the day, the race looked like it was going to be a procession to Victory Lane and the giant glass of red wine for SVG. There was just one caution for cause in the first 97 laps, when Chris Buescher spun out Ryan Blaney at the start of the final stage.
But three late cautions shook up proceedings and gave Briscoe a trio of opportunities to finagle his way past the ascendant Kiwi. And while Briscoe certainly gave SVG something to think about in the first couple of corners on each of those restarts, he ultimately was unable to execute the crucial pass.
“Even if I got the lead, I mean, there was maybe a 10% chance that I would even be able to hold on to it,” Briscoe said. “So I would just try to get behind (SVG) and just try to honestly lose the least amount of time to the guys in the second and third row. So yeah, it just kind of worked out on the restarts (that) I was able to stay tight enough to Shane that we would kind of drive away and I could get in behind him. I wish I had more, but that was all I got.”
Briscoe’s teammate Bell made a similar point about SVG’s dominance.
“Obviously, the No. 88’s got the field covered right now, so we need to do a little bit of homework on that,” Bell told Frontstretch. “They’ve hit on something, and clearly he’s a great road course racer, but he ran most of them last year and even in 2023. but he didn’t win all of his races. So they clearly have hit on something that fits his style, and he’s obviously an excellent driver, and they’re kicking our butts. Need to get a little bit better — all of us do — to catch up.”
For Briscoe, it was his seventh top-five effort of the season — a season best at the Cup level — and his 20th top five in 164 Cup starts. And with a win this season and a new JGR team behind him, he’s looking for more.
“I feel like I get overlooked a lot of the time,” Briscoe said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to earn the respect of a lot of guys, not only drivers but everybody.
“This No. 19 car finally lets me kind of show what I feel like I’m capable of, and it’s just so fun to drive fast race cars. I mean, I honestly think there have only been like two tracks all year long where we couldn’t have won the race from a speed standpoint. So yeah, it’s fun. I’m looking forward to next week. I know we’re going to have a great shot to win as well.”
For Briscoe and the rest of the Cup garage, the race taking place on the one-mile concrete oval of Dover Motor Speedway should have everyone but the No. 88 team breathing a sigh of relief.
Danny Peters has written for Frontstretch since 2006. An English transplant living in San Francisco, by way of New York City, he’s had an award-winning marketing career with some of the biggest companies sponsoring sports. Working with racers all over the country, his freelance writing has even reached outside the world of racing to include movie screenplays.