Chase Briscoe spent most of Sunday (July 13) afternoon looking at the back bumper of Shane van Gisbergen’s No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. Van Gisbergen put on another dominant road course performance, leading 97 of 110 laps at Sonoma Raceway on his way to victory. Briscoe finished second as the clear best of the rest. He was one of the only drivers who could even keep van Gisbergen in his sights, and even then, it looked like SVG was saving his tires whenever things got close.
However, the race took a pivotal turn on lap 96 when Cody Ware lost a wheel, bringing out a caution. The break in the action gave the field a chance to pit under yellow, which presented the No. 19 team with a dilemma. If van Gisbergen did not pit, Briscoe could do so himself, getting new tires and a boost for the final run to the finish. On the other hand, going to pit road would force the No. 19 team to surrender its track position and restart the race deep in the field.
The TNT broadcast crew was quick to say that Briscoe must pit, because fresher tires were the only realistic way that he could beat SVG. Yet Briscoe caught the commentators and some fans by surprise when he stayed out with van Gisbergen. About 10 other drivers stayed out too, some from much deeper in the pack. Chase Elliott was in third place and the first driver to pit for fresh tires. He restarted 14th.
At first glance, the No. 19 team staying out looked like capitulation. How could Briscoe expect to defeat SVG with a slower car and no tire advantage? While new tires would have been nice in the moment, it is crucial to remember that track position has always been extremely important at Sonoma. It was not reasonable to think that van Gisbergen would be the only driver to stay out. Some drivers were always going to choose track position in that scenario, and Briscoe would’ve had to restart behind all of them. That would’ve put the No. 19 team in a situation it had not been in all day; back in the back for a late-race restart where more factors are outside the driver’s control. Staying up front, within striking distance of SVG, was the right call.
While the Nos. 88 and 19 battled at the front of the field, and chaos erupted behind them. Noah Gragson spun in the middle of the pack in turn 7, bringing out another caution with 10 laps to go. The race restarted with seven laps left until Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slammed into a tire barrier, forcing NASCAR to display the yellow flag again.
Late-race cautions like these were not a surprise, and they worked in Briscoe’s favor. Since so many of the race’s final laps were run under caution, it gave the drivers with fresh tires less time to work their way back through the field. There was nearly another caution with four laps to go when Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney crashed in the chute, but the race stayed green. The non-caution there was likely a benefit for Briscoe, too, since it prevented the race from being extended into overtime.
Some of the drivers with fresh tires, namely Elliott and Michael McDowell, had some success clawing their way through the field. Elliott was the only one who looked capable of getting back to van Gisbergen and Briscoe. However, with two laps to go, Elliott overdrove his car and slid off course, ending any shot he had to catch the leaders.
Briscoe, meanwhile, did not beat SVG on any of the late-race restarts. Staying out of the pits did not win him the race, but it did allow the No. 19 team to put together a complete afternoon and earn a good finish, which is something that Briscoe has struggled to do at times in 2025. He had a potential top five slip away in the Chicago street race after cutting down a tire in the closing laps. Even Briscoe’s fuel-saving victory at Pocono Raceway last month was born out of the team making an error on its final pit stop. It was probably with those struggles in the back of his mind that made Briscoe look at the positives in his Sonoma finish.
“Really, the only opportunity I had was on the restarts,” Briscoe said. “I obviously never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that’s what it was probably like. That guy (van Gisbergen) is just unbelievable on road courses. He’s just so good. He’s really raised the bar in this entire series.
“I don’t know what more I need,” Briscoe added. “I feel like my car is extremely, extremely good. I felt like every time I would kind of run down Shane, he would just pick up the pace himself and start driving back away. It was frustrating at times, but I was honestly happy with the effort. This is by far my worst racetrack, so, [I] kind of surprised myself, truthfully.”
Briscoe was also quick to credit his Joe Gibbs Racing team for their past success at Sonoma and their help with preparing him for the race.
“Going into this week, I was saying how this was my worst racetrack,” Briscoe said. “I felt like the 19 team did a really good job of just trying to show me little things that Martin (Truex Jr.) did that really kind of made him excel here. I just tried to replicate that.”
In any given race, there are often drivers who walk away with small victories, even if they do not take home the trophy. Sunday was one of those days for Briscoe. By staying at the front of the pack and racing head-to-head with SVG, he kept his destiny in his own hands. He delivered a strong finish for his team, who set him up for success with valuable experience, a fast car, and the right strategy when it mattered most. It feels like the No. 19 team is finally starting to gel as the playoffs approach. Perhaps Briscoe’s best races of 2025 are still to come.
Bryan began writing for Frontstretch in 2016. He has penned Up to Speed for the past eight years. A lifelong student of auto racing, Bryan is a published author and automotive historian. He is a native of Columbus, Ohio and currently resides in Southern Kentucky.