SONOMA, Calif. — Chase Briscoe lined up alongside Shane van Gisbergen for the Sonoma Raceway win three times in the final 13 laps.
But despite being the closest one to contest NASCAR’s latest road-course hero, Briscoe couldn’t muster any more than what he showed Sunday en route to a second-place finish in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.
“I wish I had more,” Briscoe said. “That’s all I got.”
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A rash of three cautions in the closing 15 laps brought Briscoe’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota within striking distance multiple times, giving Briscoe both a chance to pounce and a chance to learn. Much of what he learned, he already knew.
“I learned that he could still go a lot faster if he wanted to,” Briscoe said. “There was one time I felt like I made a push and got within, I don’t know, four or five car lengths, and he just drove right back away another five car lengths. So he definitely had more in the tank anytime he really wanted to.”
The gap, he believes, comes from van Gisbergen’s innate muscle memory, utilizing the clutch in his shifts with his left foot while using the heel-toe method with his right foot to brake and blip the throttle simultaneously.
“It’s just so foreign for what we do,” Briscoe said. “And that’s why I think on the ovals, he kind of struggles a little bit more because of how he’s using his feet, but that’s what’s natural for us, right? And it just is such an advantage on these road courses. So he does an incredible job. He’s an incredible race car driver, so I’m honestly proud of running second to that guy. I was even saying in my TV interview, I obviously never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that is very similar to what it would be like. It’s just a lot of fun and proud to have ran second to him.”
Briscoe needed a bounce-back performance after the way his last two weeks ended. Since winning at Pocono Raceway on June 22, Briscoe had finished 35th at EchoPark Speedway (formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway) and 23rd on the Chicago Street Course. Yet Briscoe is one of only two drivers not named van Gisbergen to win a NASCAR Cup Series race in the last five races, a testament both to van Gisbergen’s recent dominance and Briscoe’s persistence as he rebounded to runner-up Sunday.
“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 even all the drivers, but I think just everybody. I always felt like I was capable of doing it and the 19 car finally lets me show what I feel like I’m capable of. It’s just so fun to drive fast race cars.”
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He certainly earned van Gisbergen’s respect, particularly after their late head-to-head duels.
“I knew Chase wasn’t going to do anything stupid, but he got really close at Turn 2 a couple of times and he had a proper crack,” van Gisbergen said. “It was cool racing.”
What Briscoe has proven so far is 2025 is already a career year for the Indiana native. Through 20 races, Briscoe has accumulated a career-high seven top fives and nine top 10s, one top 10 short of tying his career-best mark set in 2022. His 14.7 average finish is also on pace to outrank his previous best of 17.3, also set in 2022.
“I’m just super proud of this 19 team,” Briscoe said. “It took us a little bit at the beginning of the year to kind of find our stride, but I feel like we’re honestly as strong as any team in the field right now as far as just overall balance. Whether it’s a short track or road course or intermediate, I feel like we can go any single weekend and battle for the win. And it reminds me a lot, honestly, of when I was in Xfinity, and I haven’t had that ever in the Cup Series, so it’s a lot of fun.”