Chase Briscoe wins Las Vegas NASCAR Cup as Larson and Reddick crash across finish line

During a dramatic final run, Chase Briscoe had to fend off several challengers and navigate numerous lapped cars, but he held on to take the NASCAR Cup Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

As Briscoe won, Kyle Larson in second slammed the wall behind him. Tyler Reddick hit the rear of Larson and spun through the infield grass. Somehow, both drivers managed to cross the finish line without losing any positions.

“I was scared to death to see him (Cole Pearn, crew chief) if I didn’t pull that one off,” said Briscoe. “What an amazing day. Thank you to all you fans. It was so hot out here, and you guys were still out here. I hope that was a good race. From my seat there at the end, I don’t know what else you could want from a cat and mouse standpoint … It’s not been a rough year, but not the results we necessarily want. Glad to get all of our partners back in victory lane.”

The Team Penske duo of Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five. William Byron, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Shane van Gisbergen, and Joey Logano filled out the remainder of the top 10.

Larson leaves Vegas with an even bigger championship lead over Denny Hamlin, 40 points ahead. Christopher Bell remains third in the standings, but he is 55 points behind.

Stage 1

Hamlin led the race from pole position, but after a stack-up at the start, last-place Gragson got into the back of Ware and spun him into the grass. NASCAR kept the race green.

Partially due to the extreme heat, there were several gremlins being reported throughout the field, including a helmet blower failure for Hocevar. Unrelated, but Reddick also reported an alternator issue

Larson faded rapidly in the early laps, struggling with the balance of his car. He was one of the first to pit, and lost a lap due to an intentional 26-second pit stop make major changes, with a mechanic reaching inside the right-front corner with the wheel off to adjust the suspension.

As the first round of green-flag stops cycled through, and just after the cycle was completed, Zane Smith spun into the wall with a cut tire.

Hamlin chose to pit from the lead, but eight cars — led by Briscoe and Bell — stayed out. While Briscoe maintained control on the restart, Hamlin found it difficult to make significant headway after a two-tire call.

Hamlin made it up to fourth near the end of the stage, but shockingly lost control while running the way high line and spun onto the apron. NASCAR kept the race green and he limped to the end of the stage, with the splitter pushed up after slamming down onto the apron during the spin.

Briscoe won Stage 1, followed by Blaney, Cindric, Suárez, Wallace, Hocevar, Bowman, McDowell, and Buescher

In a twist no one would have predicted, both Larson and Hamlin ended Stage 1 outside the top 20.

Stage 2

It was a rough pit stop for Cindric, as his jackman fell over the tire changer, and Wallace was sent to the rear of the field due to equipment interference. His teammate Reddick also restarted in the back after a battery change.

Briscoe continued to lead on the restart with Suarez second, but the run was cut short due to debris near the pit entry.

15 cars stayed out, but several rolled the dice as the timing put them right on the edge of the fuel window.

Briscoe continued to lead, as Cindric made a daring four-wide pass on the apron while fighting through the mid-field. He was leading those who pitted during the previous yellow.

Several cars were on the edge of control, with Bowman and Byron both finding the wall. Keselowski nearly lost it and quickly dove to pit road, kicking off the next round of green-flag pit stops.

As the leaders pitted, Cindric inherited the lead as his group tried to go roughly 70 laps on one set of tires. 

Bell reported a loss of power steering and was struggling to hang on to his No. 20 car. As the extremely long run progressed, a handful of cars who were good on fuel still had to pit as the tires began to cord. That unfortunate lot included Chastain, Hocevar, Preece and Suarez.

In the final few laps of the stage, those who pitted partway through the stage were making huge gains. Briscoe ran down Cindric and swept the stages, making the pass with three laps left in the stage.

Briscoe won Stage 2 over Cindric, Bell, Blaney, Wallace, Logano, Elliott, Byron, Buescher, and Larson.

Stage 3

Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Right before the start of the final stage, Bell had an extended pit stop to work on the power steering, but the team later said there wasn’t much they could do. Meanwhile, Hamlin’s bad day got worse as he lost fuel pressure for a moment and gave up almost a dozen spots under caution.

Briscoe held off Blaney on the restart, while a dramatic battle for third played out behind them. Logano briefly made it four-wide, and Elliott later dove three-wide to the inside of Cindric and Wallace, which nearly ended in a wreck.

Briscoe drove out to five-second lead, but after Wallace moved up to second, he began to slice into Briscoe’s advantage.

With about 50 laps left in the race, the final round of green-flag stops began with Gibbs and Bowman.

Briscoe pitted at the end of Lap 216/267 with Wallace following him down. Cindric pitted the following lap, and Wallace exited pit road with Briscoe still in his crosshairs.

Briscoe officially returned to the lead after passing the ailing Bell, who ran long in hopes of a lucky caution.

Wallace remained just a few car lengths back of Briscoe, and Larson was quietly catching them both as the laps ticked away. With 30 laps to go, Briscoe slammed the door on a lunging Wallace, who lost almost a second as he shot up the track.

With 20 to go, Briscoe came upon a packed group of slower cars and struggled to make headway. Suddenly, Reddick crept into the battle to put four cars within a second of each other.

Larson moved up to second with 11 laps to go, and it was setting up to be a Kansas rematch between the two. 

By the end of the race, Briscoe was all over the track blocking both Larson and Reddick. In the final corner, Larson ran as high as he could to try and build a big run, only to have his Kyle Busch tribute car snap up into the wall, destroying the right-side. He dragged it across the line in second, while Reddick ran into the back of him and spun across the infield grass, still in third.

NASCAR Cup Las Vegas II race results

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