Chase Briscoe secured his place in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 with a dramatic overtime victory in the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver executed a thrilling last-lap pass to claim his first career superspeedway win and punch his ticket to the Championship 4 season finale.
Briscoe, the 29-year-old Indiana native, will join JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, who won last week at Las Vegas, leaving the final two championship spots to be decided this weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
Briscoe credited another JGR teammate, 23-year-old Ty Gibbs, for the final-lap push that propelled his No. 19 Toyota past the frantic pack. Briscoe crossed the finish line 0.145 seconds ahead of Front Row Motorsports driver Todd Gilliland, with Gibbs close behind. Neither Gilliland nor Gibbs is currently in the eight-driver Playoff field.
“Ty Gibbs, just an incredible teammate there,” an emotional Briscoe said, waving to the cheering crowd. “I honestly would not have won that race without Ty. I can’t believe I won a superspeedway race. I’ve never done it at any level.”
Briscoe led only 16 laps, but the final one was all that mattered.
“It’s not hit me, we’re going to Phoenix,” Briscoe said, smiling about the title opportunity. “So thankful that the Lord’s blessed me, opening doors… Even today I just had such a peace, and normally I’m scared to death, nervous around this place, but today, [I] just had such a peace.”
Christopher Bell was the only other Playoff competitor to finish in the Top 10, crossing the line eighth for JGR. With two JGR cars locked in by virtue of victory, Bell currently holds the top points position, 37 points above the elimination line heading into Martinsville.
While the day was a massive success for Joe Gibbs Racing, it proved disappointing for the Playoff contenders from Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske.
Hendrick Motorsports had two cars running in the Top 5 for the overtime restart before disaster struck. Kyle Larson dropped back from the lead after running out of fuel, while regular-season champion William Byron was spun out just yards from the finish line. They finished 26th (Larson) and 25th (Byron), respectively.
Larson is currently ranked fourth, 36 points above the cutoff line, while Byron is fifth, 36 points below the line.
Team Penske’s Playoff drivers also experienced late-race frustration. Reigning series champion Joey Logano and 2023 series champ Ryan Blaney positioned themselves up front in the closing laps, but both had to pit during the overtime caution to top off on fuel. Logano’s No. 22 Ford led a race-high 35 laps in a day that featured 77 lead changes among 27 drivers.
Logano finished 16th and Blaney 23rd.
“Really, really frustrating because you’re so close and you see in front of you what you’ve got to do, and you can’t do anything about it,” Logano said. “It’s frustrating but we know what we’ve got to do now, it’s pretty simple.”
Logano is ranked sixth, 38 points below the cutoff line. Blaney is seventh, 47 points back. Both now need a victory at Martinsville, where Blaney has won the last two Playoff races.
NASCAR’s perennial Most Popular Driver, Chase Elliott, was the first Playoff contender to find trouble, collected in an eight-car accident near the front of the field just 51 laps into the race. The incident resulted in a last-place finish in the 40-car field.
Elliott had started the day ranked sixth in the standings. He now sits eighth among the eight drivers, 62 points out of contention, and must win next Sunday at Martinsville to advance.
“We just did not execute that well as a group and put ourselves in the back of the pack unfortunately and got caught up in the mess,” Elliott said. “Unless we won today, we were already likely in a very similar situation next week. We’ve got one more shot at it.”
Rounding out the top five were Gilliland, Gibbs, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, and Haas Factory Team’s Cole Custer. Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, Bell, Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith, and Roush-Fenway-Keselowski owner-driver Brad Keselowski completed the top 10.
The final race to set the 2025 Championship 4 field is the Xfinity 500 next Sunday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway.
YellaWood 500
Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega, Alabama
Sunday, October 19, 2025
1. (2) Chase Briscoe (P), Toyota, 193.
2. (27) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 193.
3. (18) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 193.
4. (10) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 193.
5. (12) Cole Custer, Ford, 193.
6. (32) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 193.
7. (15) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 193.
8. (7) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 193.
9. (23) Zane Smith, Ford, 193.
10. (20) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 193.
11. (31) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 193.
12. (26) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 193.
13. (24) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 193.
14. (28) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 193.
15. (5) Ryan Preece, Ford, 193.
16. (16) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 193.
17. (1) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 193.
18. (40) Casey Mears, Ford, 193.
19. (3) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 193.
20. (29) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 193.
21. (38) Anthony Alfredo(i), Chevrolet, 193.
22. (33) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 193.
23. (8) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 193.
24. (17) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 193.
25. (13) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 193.
26. (19) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 193.
27. (21) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 191.
28. (39) BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 187.
29. (11) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 187.
30. (14) Chris Buescher, Ford, Accident, 186.
31. (35) Cody Ware, Ford, Engine, 165.
32. (9) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, Engine, 141.
33. (6) Josh Berry, Ford, Drivetrain, 133.
34. (4) Austin Cindric, Ford, 77.
35. (30) Erik Jones, Toyota, Accident, 55.
36. (36) Noah Gragson, Ford, Accident, 51.
37. (34) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 51.
38. (37) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 51.
39. (22) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, Accident, 51.
40. (25) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 51.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 149.178 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 26 Mins, 29 Secs.
Margin of Victory: .145 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 28 laps.
Lead Changes: 77 among 27 drivers.
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