Patience was wearing thin for NASCAR Cup Series title contender Chase Briscoe. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was one of a handful of top championship threats this year who remained winless prior to the 19th race of the season at Chicagoland Speedway.
But Briscoe, an ace at intermediate tracks, prevailed. Briscoe only led 51 laps, but it was enough to hold off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell for his first triumph of 2026.
What Does The Win Do For Briscoe’s Title Hopes?
Unlike 2025, there is no Championship 4 in the playoffs, nor are there different rounds. It’s simply 10 races, and whoever is the best comes out on top.
But seeding will be vital. Currently, he is eighth in the standings, which is just outside of the bubble that Dale Earnhardt Jr. predicts a driver will need to be in title contention, which is around sixth or seventh.
“Last year, I feel like we were both trying to just prove that we deserved to be in the position that we were in,” Briscoe said. “Then to be able to go last year and be as competitive kind of week in and week out and have a chance to win the championship, you know, you start this season like internally having that expectation, but also the whole world around you has that expectation now.
“When we talked about over the offseason where should we be week 5, week 10 of the season, it was honestly leading the points or being in the top 3. When that doesn’t happen, I think it’s easy to not point fingers at each other, but there is a friction, right, because you’re not getting the results that you were so used to getting.
“That’s where I think James and I have done a pretty good job of just still looking at the big picture and being, like, okay, it’s not like we’re slow. We’re still really fast. We just haven’t had the results on the execution side. Some of it has been just circumstance, but outside of really two or three weekends on the season, we’ve had a car that’s capable of running in the top 3, and we just haven’t done it as a race team.”
What Does James Small Think?
Crew chief James Small, who won eight races with Martin Truex Jr., is back on top with Briscoe. The new duo won three races in 2025, their first year together. Briscoe finished third in the standings after an intense championship battle.
Now, Small believes that with the bad luck out of the way, they are title contenders once again.
“We have incredible speed a lot of the time, but consistency and execution in the races and putting whole races together has been a little bit of a weakness,” Small said. “It’s been a focus of ours the last few weeks. We’re really in this predicament in 10th and 11th in points where every point matters. To be realistic, you know, we’ve all done the math equations over the years. You want to have the best shot be inside the top 6 if you can be entering it.
“Even before the season started, I think I did the math, and if you use last year’s results with this year’s points system in the playoffs, we scored the most points, but we wouldn’t have won the championship because we were seeded too far back. We had a goal this year. I think if we can keep running like this, maybe we can attain it and get ourselves to fifth. I think tonight would have been a good step.
“I believe in our team. You know, JGR and Toyota gives great equipment, and it’s up to Chase and myself and everybody on the team to execute and put fast cars out there. If we can do that, there’s no excuses why we can’t be a contender.”
And most of all, Small believes that Briscoe is gaining ground each week, growing as a racer week-in and week-out.
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