Welcome to the Championship 4, Chase Briscoe.
The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota emerged from sixth on overtime restart and got a push from his JGR teammate Ty Gibbs to win the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, Oct. 19. With his fifth Cup Series victory, Briscoe secured the first Championship 4 spot of his Cup career, joining fellow JGR driver Denny Hamlin in the title fight at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 2.
Pit strategy and pit penalties shook up both the race finish and the playoff grid. Here are the major pit road plotlines from the high banks in Alabama:
Chase Briscoe Bounces Back From Pit Road Penalty
Briscoe’s checkered flag did not come without some self-inflicted adversity.
On lap 43, Briscoe was one of several drivers to come in for their first pit stop of the day. But on the way to the service of his pit crew, Briscoe got caught speeding on pit road. The pass-through penalty caused Briscoe to lose a lap as well as the lead draft.
Briscoe’s speeding penalty was part of the busy day for NASCAR officials with 10 such penalties in the race, though Briscoe’s infraction was the only one involving a playoff driver.
However, Briscoe’s comeback bid got a big boost with the first caution of the day on lap 52 for a nine-car crash (The Medium One?) that took out playoff contender Chase Elliott. The No. 9 team’s loss was the No. 19’s gain as Briscoe took a wave around to get back on the lead lap.
From there, Briscoe clawed his way back into contention and used a combination of good moves, good luck and teammate aid to win his way to the Championship 4.
Overtime Finish Leads to Fuel Mileage Issues For Playoff Teams
The race’s fifth caution with 23 laps remaining brought the entire lead lap down pit road for fuel.
With teams well within the fuel window, this round of stops seemingly ended any fuel mileage conversations. Then, Chris Buescher got turned around on the backstretch after a push from William Byron, setting the stage for overtime.
As it turned out, a few teams did not put enough fuel in the car to account for overtime, sending those teams down pit road for more fuel in the leadup to overtime. This group included Team Penske drivers Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, who lost significant track position on their way to 16th and 23rd-place finishes, respectively.
Among the drivers who stayed out for overtime was Kyle Larson, who lined up on the front row for the restart alongside Hendrick Motorsports teammate. On the final lap, Larson was the lead car on the inside lane with Byron pushing, right in the battle for the win — until he wasn’t.
Larson’s fuel tank on the No. 5 HMS Chevrolet ran dry on the backstretch, sending him plummeting to a 26th-place finish as the last car on the lead lap.
Afterwards, No. 5 team crew chief Cliff Daniels took responsibility, citing a miscalculation in the fuel strategy.
“Disappointing of course,” Daniels told Frontstretch’s Michael Massie about the ending. “Obviously, we thought we had a little bit more [fuel] than what we ended up having. That’s the unfortunate part. Obviously, we got to go back and see what we did wrong and just figure how to be better going forward.”
The upside for Larson, Daniels and the No. 5 team is that even with the fuel issue, they still go into Martinsville Speedway next week with a 36-point edge over the cut line.
“We’re going to try to put our best foot forward,” Daniels said. “Our mindset is going to be to go there and almost consider ourselves a must-win car.”
Look Ahead to Next Week
Two more drivers will join Briscoe and Hamlin in the Championship 4 following the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway next Sunday, Oct. 26. Coverage of the Xfinity 500 from Martinsville will begin at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
All four drivers below the cut line — Byron, Blaney, Logano and Elliott — figure to be in must-win situations to make the Championship 4, so expect those teams to take big swings in strategy if necessary. The good news for them is that all four drivers are previous Martinsville winners, so don’t be shocked to see the Nos. 9, 12, 22 and 24 at or near the front at The Paper Clip.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.