Chase Briscoe wins Chicagoland NASCAR Cup race in JGR 1-2-3

Chase Briscoe collected his sixth career NASCAR Cup win and his first of the 2026 season on Sunday, winning in NASCAR's long-awaited return to Chicagoland Speedway.

He had to hold off a charging Christopher Bell at the end of the race, and led a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2-3 with Bell second and Denny Hamlin third.

"How about that race," said Briscoe after climbing from the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Camry. "Was that a good race? It felt awesome. Yeah, what an unbelievable weekend.

"I feel so American winning in the Bass Pro Shop's red, white, and blue car, 4th of July weekend, 250 years. Man, just what an unbelievable race car. James did a great job. Team did a pretty job. Honestly did not see this coming.

"I kind of felt like I was struggling in practice, in qualifying, but James [Small, crew chief] and the group did a great job. Man, just so cool to get this paint scheme back in victory lane ... What a cool weekend to win a NASCAR race."

Briscoe also claimed the win on crew chief James Small's birthday, delivering him quite the gift. "Me and him are about the two most polar opposites in the world," added Briscoe. "He stays on me and makes me be perfect each and every lap and does a great job of keeping me honest. He told me if I win today, I can get some chocolate, so I'm pretty fired up about that."

Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Alex Bowman finished fourth and fifth, respectively. 

Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Corey Heim, and Riley Herbst filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Hamlin took over the championship lead one week ago by a single point, and that lead exploded at Chicagoland after Tyler Reddick suffered a hole in the radiator. Hamlin now leads by 44 points over his 23XI Racing driver.

Stage 1

NASCAR's return to Chicagoland got off to a wild start. Nemechek pushed up the track at the exit of Turn 2 on the very first lap, pushing Stenhouse into the wall. Preece attempted to check up, only to get hit from behind. As he spun, Connor Zilisch spun as well while trying to avoid him.

Preece's car slid to a halt and could not move due to flat tires, while Zilisch pounded the inside wall in his fifth DNF of the last seven races.

Preece returned to the race four laps down, while Larson now led the way. However, on the long run, Hamlin's car came alive and he snatched the lead away.

Around 33 laps into the race, frustrations were already boiling over in the middle of the field. Smith ran into the back of Hocevar, wrecking both cars into the outside wall. They were wounded, but able to continue.

A few laps later, Van Gisbergen got into the back of rival Austin Hill, sending him crashing into the outside wall on Lap 47. These two have quite the history, and SVG has loudly blamed Hill for wrecking him at both Pocono and San Diego. Hill's team was certain it was payback, and Hill doored Van Gisbergen before falling out of the race.

This caution was good news for Preece, who had already taken a wave-around and now got the free pass, putting him just two laps down.

But the contact was limited to the race track, as Bell collided with Gilliland in the pits, spinning him out and damaging Bell's right-front. Hamlin also had a bad pit stop, putting him outside the top 20.

Five cars opted to stay out during this yellow, led by Cindric and Herbst, while several others grabbed track position with two-tire calls.

As things sorted out after a chaotic restart, it was Hendrick Motorsports in command with Byron leading Larson.

Byron went on to win Stage 1 over Larson, Wallace, Cindric, Briscoe, Buescher, Herbst, Hamlin, Gibbs, and Reddick.

Stage 2

The caution was extended a bit as NASCAR made repairs to the surface of pit road, but once it opened, this round of pit stops were much cleaner.

On the restart, Wallace muscled into the race lead and soon after, Larson went spinning from second place. He ended up stuck in the wet infield grass, losing two laps as track workers pulled him out.

On the other side of that, Preece had once again parlayed a wave-around into a free pass, getting all four laps back within a 100 laps of losing them.

Wallace continued to lead until about halfway through Stage 2, battling three-wide with fellow Toyota drivers Briscoe and Hamlin before falling back to third.

As Hamlin now challenged teammate Briscoe for the race lead, a round of green-flag pit stops got underway. Buescher had to back up after the team failed to secure a wheel. But the real drama involved championship contender Reddick.

The No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota limped into its pit box with major issues, spewing oil all over the side of the car and onto the track after striking debris. This forced a caution flag in the middle of green-flag pit stops.

Blaney was suddenly the leader, but as things cycled out after he and about seven others finally pitted, Byron took control.

On the restart, Jones slid up into the wall, complaining about a broken steering rack. Wallace also nearly lost it, but quickly regained control.

The rest of the stage remained green, with Byron winning Stage 2 as well. He was followed by Briscoe, Hamlin, Gibbs, Blaney, Bell, Elliott, Bowman, Cindric, and Nemechek

Stage 3

Things calmed down for the start of the final stage as the sun set over Chicagoland. Byron was still out front, with all four JGR cars pursuing him.

Briscoe was the closest in the runner-up spot, but he actually tagged the wall trying to keep up with Byron.

With 52 laps to go, Briscoe pitted from second. Byron reacted the following lap, but the undercut was strong enough to vault Briscoe ahead. He continued to lead for the rest of the race, but the gap was rapidly closing in the final ten laps.

Bell and Hamlin (who hit the wall) overtook Byron and began to close on Briscoe. In lapped traffic, Bell caught Briscoe, but simply could not find a way by, and washed up on the white flag lap in Briscoe's dirty air.

Briscoe claimed victory, just 0.276s clear of Bell. He led a total of 51 laps.

RACE

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	C. Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing	19		Toyota	267	3:09'18.368		8
2	C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing	20		Toyota	267	+0.276 3:09'18.644	0.276	11
3	D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing	11		Toyota	267	+3.359 3:09'21.727	3.083	9
4	W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports	24		Chevrolet	267	+3.988 3:09'22.356	0.629	9
5	A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports	48		Chevrolet	267	+8.032 3:09'26.400	4.044	9
6	B. Wallace 23XI Racing	23		Toyota	267	+10.983 3:09'29.351	2.951	9
7	R. Blaney Team Penske	12		Ford	267	+12.544 3:09'30.912	1.561	9
8	T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing	54		Toyota	267	+12.823 3:09'31.191	0.279	9
9	C. Heim 23XI Racing	67		Toyota	267	+12.904 3:09'31.272	0.081	9
10	R. Herbst 23XI Racing	35		Toyota	267	+15.714 3:09'34.082	2.810	8
11	C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports	9		Chevrolet	267	+18.932 3:09'37.300	3.218	9
12	J. Logano Team Penske	22		Ford	267	+21.485 3:09'39.853	2.553	10
13	A. Cindric Team Penske	2		Ford	267	+21.658 3:09'40.026	0.173	8
14	D. Suarez Spire Motorsports	7		Chevrolet	267	+26.265 3:09'44.633	4.607	9
15	E. Jones Legacy Motor Club	43		Toyota	267	+27.634 3:09'46.002	1.369	9
16	T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports	34		Ford	267	+30.972 3:09'49.340	3.338	12
17	A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing	16		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:09'19.186	1 Lap	9
18	R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing	1		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:09'20.300	1.114	9
19	C. Buescher RFK Racing	17		Ford	266	+1 Lap 3:09'22.589	2.289	9
20	T. Dillon Kaulig Racing	10		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:09'23.369	0.780	10
21	B. Keselowski RFK Racing	6		Ford	266	+1 Lap 3:09'26.590	3.221	9
22	C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports	77		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:09'27.934	1.344	10
23	J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club	42		Toyota	266	+1 Lap 3:09'32.760	4.826	10
24	A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing	3		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:09'33.651	0.891	9
25	S. van Gisbergen TrackHouse Racing	97		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:09'34.925	1.274	10
26	R. Stenhouse Jr Hyak Motorsports	47		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:09'35.628	0.703	11
27	N. Gragson Front Row Motorsports	4		Ford	266	+1 Lap 3:09'36.596	0.968	9
28	Z. Smith Front Row Motorsports	38		Ford	266	+1 Lap 3:09'42.839	6.243	14
29	M. McDowell Spire Motorsports	71		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:09'43.351	0.512	10
30	C. Ware Rick Ware Racing	51		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:09'44.518	1.167	10
31	C. Custer Haas Factory Team	41		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 3:09'47.115	2.597	10
32	R. Preece RFK Racing	60		Ford	266	+1 Lap 3:09'50.603	3.488	10
33	J. Berry Wood Brothers Racing	21		Ford	265	+2 Laps 3:09'27.152	1 Lap	9
34	K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports	5		Chevrolet	265	+2 Laps 3:09'39.451	12.299	10
35	J. Yeley NY Racing Team	44		Chevrolet	256	+11 Laps 3:09'24.599	9 Laps	13
36	T. Reddick 23XI Racing	45		Toyota	237	+30 Laps 3:09'46.114	19 Laps	12
37	A. Hill Richard Childress Racing	33		Chevrolet	47	+220 Laps 35'29.225	190 Laps	5
38	C. Zilisch TrackHouse Racing	88		Chevrolet	0	+267 Laps 1.491	47 Laps	3
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