LEBANON, Tenn. — Joe Gibbs Racing experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat at Nashville Superspeedway. Both Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe left Music City wishing they were the one hoisting the Gibson guitar handed to the winner.
“There is nobody to blame, no circumstances, it was all completely in my hands and I dropped the ball,” Bell said in disgust. “There is literally nobody that had anything to do with losing the race but me and it sucks.”
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Through a choppy Cracker Barrel 400 that lasted 30 seconds shy of four hours, the field was re-racked for a four-lap shootout with Bell in command. Denny Hamlin lined up behind the No. 20 Toyota with Briscoe restarting on the outside; Hamlin on the inside of the second row.
Bell and Hamlin jockeyed the lead back and forth for three laps, allowing Briscoe to get a monstrous run coming to the white flag. The trio of JGR teammates were three abreast entering Turn 1 with Bell sliding into the race lead. Bell overdrove Turn 1 and couldn’t maintain his line, opening the door for Hamlin to slip underneath and claim his second victory of the 2026 season.
“I kept side drafting and tried driving in deep enough to clear [Bell] and I realized he was not going to let me clear him,” Hamlin said in his winning post-race press conference. “At that point, I knew we weren’t making optimal lap times, so I learned from my mistakes. On the final lap, I said I’m going to roll the bottom and he’s probably going to drive in really deep, thinking that I’m going to drive in deep but I’m going to switch it up on him and get a good run off instead. It was good enough to clear him.”
This defeat hurt more than other recent losses for Bell. He took it squarely on the chin, but now has consecutive runner-up results, dating back to last week’s Coca-Cola 600.
“I needed to not let Denny get beside me on the restart,” Bell said. “I was focused on getting clear into [Turn] 1, and I opened the door and Denny got right inside of me and it was a drag race from there.”
“I didn’t need anything. My car was amazing. I had the right strategy, the right everything and I did not win the race. I didn’t do a good job of driving, and I have no one to blame but myself.”
Like Bell, Briscoe was left frustrated by the outcome. The fierce battle between his teammates brought the No. 19 back into the picture on the final lap, and he believed he had a legitimate chance to steal the win. Seeing three JGR cars lined up wheel-to-wheel, he made his move, imagining a finish that would produce a memorable photo for the organization’s Huntersville, North Carolina, headquarters.
“I was licking my chops because I thought every opportunity was going to be perfect for me,” Briscoe said. “With them running side-by-side, they kept killing each other’s momentum and washing up the race track and [leaving] the bottom open for me through the corner. I kept backing my corner way up and letting them drive in. I just couldn’t ever build a run. I would get close and then I would have to back off and could never get a big enough run to do something with it.
“I thought I had all the ingredients there at the end to be able to make a move. It finally developed on the last lap, but I got put on the top and it’s not where you wanted to be.”
When Briscoe reached the lead during Stage 2 to lead 14 circuits, he felt like his No. 19 car was untouchable. Ultimately, it ended with a third-place effort — his second top-five finish in the last three points-paying events (Watkins Glen).
But the near miss is a heartbreaker.
“I’ve never been so frustrated not to win in my career, I feel like, because I know the speed has been there,” Briscoe noted. “At the beginning of Stage 2, I felt that was the most unbelievable Cup car I’ve ever — I felt like I had half a second on the field. To have cars like that and not be able to win with them has been aggravating. We at least got a finish tonight, which we’ve had cars with that speed this year and haven’t even had a finish to go with it.”
The good news for both Bell and Briscoe? They both jumped one position in the regular-season championship standings to seventh and 14th, respectively, with 12 races until The Chase.