Chase Briscoe Sends Message After Heartbreaking Finish at Kansas: ‘It’s Still Possible’
· Yahoo Sports
For a few late laps Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Chase Briscoe could see the opportunity sitting directly in front of him.
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Then it disappeared.
Briscoe had positioned himself for a potential victory in the closing stages of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, chasing Kyle Larson while running second. But after repeatedly flirting with the outside wall, Briscoe finally made contact hard enough to cost himself positions.
Austin Cindric went by. So did Denny Hamlin.
Briscoe ultimately crossed the line fourth, turning what looked like a potential race-winning afternoon into another reminder of just how small the margin for error can be at Kansas.
His frustration was obvious when he climbed from the car.
“Frustrating for sure,” Briscoe said during his post-race interview on pit road. “Yeah, I just felt like I had a win there.”
But Briscoe’s message afterward wasn’t one of surrender.
Far from it.
Chase Briscoe Still Believes He Can Make a Championship Run
Briscoe entered Kansas desperately needing something to go his way after a difficult opening stretch to the Chase.
He finally got it Sunday.
The fourth-place finish was his best result through the first four races of the postseason and gave Briscoe something tangible to build on, even if the result felt considerably less satisfying after how close he came to something bigger.
“Nice to finally have a good finish in this Chase,” Briscoe said. “It’s been a tough go.”
The problem is the deficit he is trying to erase.
Briscoe acknowledged after the race that he now sits more than 120 points back. With Larson collecting his second victory through the first four Chase races and leaving Kansas with a massive 76-point afternoon, the championship picture remains daunting.
Briscoe isn’t pretending otherwise.
“120 points back,” he said. “Keep trying.”
Then came the comparison that revealed exactly why he isn’t ready to concede anything.
Asked what a victory Sunday would have meant for his championship hopes, Briscoe pointed to one of the most famous late-season charges in NASCAR history.
“It’s still possible,” Briscoe said. “A little Tony Stewart run, 2011.”
Briscoe Turns to Tony Stewart’s 2011 Run for Hope
Briscoe could hardly have picked a more fitting example.
Stewart entered the 2011 NASCAR postseason without a victory during the regular season. What followed became one of the defining championship runs in the sport’s history.
Stewart won five of the 10 Chase races, including the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and ultimately captured the Cup Series championship over Carl Edwards.
Briscoe obviously has a different challenge in front of him in 2026, and invoking Stewart does not erase the 120-point deficit he acknowledged at Kansas.
But that wasn’t really his point.
Briscoe had just watched a potential victory disappear in the closing laps of a race he believed he could win. Instead of treating Kansas as another missed opportunity in an already difficult Chase, he left the track looking for evidence that a championship can still be won after everything seems to have gone wrong.
For Briscoe, Stewart’s 2011 run provides exactly that.
There was plenty for Briscoe to regret Sunday. He admitted his car had gotten extremely loose, and after brushing the wall multiple times, the final contact cost him a chance to finish directly behind Larson and potentially challenge for more.
Yet fourth place was still his first strong finish of this Chase.
And with six races remaining, Briscoe isn’t ready to decide the championship is already out of reach.
“It’s still possible.”