Bobby Travis · NASCAR/IndyCar Correspondent
By just 0.029 seconds, Chase Briscoe held off his own Joe Gibbs Racing teammate in the Bank of America 400, while a heavy crash removed three drivers from contention and dealt serious blows to the Chase title hopes of Bubba Wallace and William Byron.
Chase Briscoe won the Bank of America 400 of the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday at the 1.5-mile oval of Charlotte Motor Speedway, securing his third victory of the season and his second consecutive win after Las Vegas. At the finish line, just 0.029 seconds separated him from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell, the closest finish of the current season. Over 267 laps and 400.5 miles, the race came down to the final lap after a severe crash had shuffled the field and eliminated three drivers early, including two Chase contenders in Wallace and Byron.
Wheel-to-wheel to the checkered flag
After Christopher Bell moved ahead of Kyle Larson in lap 107 and took Stage 2, Chase Briscoe assumed control in the closing stage with strong pit strategy and clean pace. Larson, who led the most laps overall with 97, fell out of the top five in the final stage. Briscoe led by more than two seconds with ten laps remaining before Bell erased that deficit through the final lap.
On the last lap, Bell made his move. The two teammates ran side-by-side down the front stretch, made contact in the final dash, but Briscoe came out ahead. Despite the narrow loss, Bell secured second place with crucial Chase points.
Starting lineup without qualifying, then the big crash
With practice and qualifying rained out on Saturday, the starting grid was determined by rulebook formula using points and prior results. Points leader Kyle Larson started from pole position, with the previous week's winner Chase Briscoe alongside him on the front row. Larson capitalized immediately, took the early lead, and won Stage 1. Overall, there were six cautions and eleven lead changes among five drivers during the race.
The race was overshadowed by a severe accident. In lap 77, shortly before the end of the first stage, Alex Bowman lost the rear of his car exiting turn two. Attempting to correct, the machine climbed and rammed into the back of Bubba Wallace, who hit the outside wall at speed and then struck the inside wall of the backmarked section. William Byron was also caught in the incident. All three drivers had to retire early; Wallace and Bowman were able to exit their cars under their own power and were released from the infield care center without serious injuries after evaluation.
Bowman took full responsibility afterward. "The car just got loose," he said. He had been running loose beforehand, then overcorrected too much and hit the other two cars. "That's on me, I didn't catch it well enough." Wallace took it in stride: "No hard feelings, that's racing."
Penalties, comebacks, and Chase consequences
The Competition Caution after 35 laps brought movement to the field beyond the Bowman incident: Denny Hamlin was penalized for a pit box safety violation, Ryan Blaney was sent to the back for speeding on pit road. Both fought their way back through traffic afterward. Blaney finished the race in third place, 4.900 seconds behind Briscoe; Hamlin came home fifth, 5.884 seconds back.
For the championship, the afternoon at Charlotte means one thing above all: for Wallace and Byron in the sixth of ten Chase races, it's a heavy setback, while the one-two finish from Briscoe and Bell suggests Joe Gibbs Racing is the team to beat right now. Larson, despite finishing sixth, led the most laps, indicating that with his Stage 1 win and strong pace, he remains a serious factor in the tight title battle.
