Briscoe Goes Back-to-Back With Photo-Finish Thriller at Charlotte

Chase Briscoe is suddenly the hottest driver in NASCAR's postseason. The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver held off teammate Christopher Bell in a breathless photo finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, winning the Bank of America 400 by just 0.029 seconds — the closest Cup Series finish of the 2026 season and the second-closest in the track's history. Briscoe led the final 57 of 267 laps but nearly saw it all slip away on the last lap. Bell, who had led a race-high 93 laps, caught the leader off the final turn and the two made side-by-side contact before Briscoe kept his Toyota straight to the checkered flag. The victory is Briscoe's third of the season and the eighth of his career, and follows his Las Vegas win a week earlier — the first time he has won back-to-back Cup races. Ryan Blaney finished third ahead of Josh Berry and Denny Hamlin. Kyle Larson led a race-high 97 laps and won Stage 1 but finished sixth, still stretching his Chase points lead to 49 over Hamlin with four races remaining. The race featured six cautions and 11 lead changes, with Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman and William Byron all wrecked in a messy first stage, while Bell was told to manage fuel in the closing laps before being unleashed too late.