Chase Briscoe, No. 19 team played its cards right but fall short at Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- When Chase Briscoe left the Cup Series field in the dust during the opening stint of Sunday’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he thought it was going to be a repeat of August's Southern 500. Ultimately, it was a gamble made by No. 19 crew chief James Small that dictated the outcome. Briscoe passed Denny Hamlin on the opening lap and led the opening 35 circuits of the race before hitting pit road during the first cycle of green-flag pit stops. With the No. 19 team having a mediocre 13.6-second pit stop, Briscoe fell to third in the running order at the conclusion of the stage. RELATED: Race results | At-track photos “The first run of the day, I was like, ‘my gosh, we’re going to murder them,’” Briscoe thought. “My car was unbelievable. We had that bad pit stop and lost control of the race and could never get the balance back to what it was.” Throughout the race, Briscoe hovered around the top five, finishing fifth in Stage 2. But after bouncing off the backstretch wall on a restart during the final stage, he sank to eighth in the running order. But at a Lap 232 caution involving frontrunner William Byron and Ty Dillon, No. 19 crew chief James Small had a crucial decision to make. He was among four crew chiefs to gamble on taking two tires -- along with fellow playoff contender Joey Logano --  to get Briscoe track position. The risk was worth the reward for the No. 19 team, already banking 14 stage points on the afternoon. But the danger was high, should Briscoe fall into the clutches of the rest of the field on four fresh tires. “It could have ended up really bad,” Small stated. “I think the key with what we’ve seen before, the car on two tires that can get the lead can hang on. If you don’t, you’re going backwards in a hurry. Thankfully, it was still a giant gain from where we were.” With another multicar pileup on the following restart, Briscoe gained a buffer with the drivers on four fresh tires having fewer laps to hunt down the No. 19 car. The final restart waved with 14 laps remaining, with four of the top five drivers on fresher tires. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson, both on four fresh Goodyear tires, made quick work of Joey Logano and Alex Bowman, putting them in prime position to hunt Briscoe down. When Hamlin cleared Larson, he hurried to the back bumper of Briscoe. The No. 19 car began losing considerable pace in the waning laps, as Hamlin took the lead coming to four laps remaining. Larson followed through, as did Christopher Bell. Briscoe earned a fourth-place finish, his 14th top-five finish of the 2025 season. “Wish it was [five] laps shorter or whatever it was,” Briscoe added. “I was so loose at the end; I had nothing left. That was all I had. “I was so loose all day long if I ran the top. I was already that loose running the bottom, I was scared to death to go up there. With them having new tires, I felt like if I gave them the bottom, they would drive right by me anyway. I was trying to air block as much as I could.” The venture to take two tires ultimately netted Briscoe an additional point or two, he believes. On sheer speed, he thought the No. 19 team should have placed around fifth. “It could have been a lot worse, and we’re on the upside of points, which is something not to be mad about,” Briscoe said. With two races remaining in the Round of 8, Briscoe sits above the cutline with a 15-point buffer over Byron for the final provisional Championship 4 spot. Next up is a trip to Talladega Superspeedway next Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Briscoe finished 15th in April.