By Jerry Jordan, Editor
Chase Briscoe held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell in a drag race that featured their two cars bouncing into each other just a few feet from the checkered flag Sunday, winning the NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway by 0.029 seconds in the second-closest finish in the track’s 66-year history.
Briscoe, the driver of the No. 19 Free Bird Spring Water Toyota, led the final 57 laps but spent the closing laps hanging on with a failing right front tire. Bell, who saved fuel for much of the final run, got the call to go on the last lap and closed from more than a second back to bang doors with Briscoe coming off of Turn 4 and racing down the frontstretch.
“When Christopher got into me off of 4, I kind of got sideways and I thought I was going to wreck,” Briscoe said. “I’m glad that we won, but I wish it wasn’t so stressful. I don’t have very much hair to begin with, but I’m definitely losing it really quickly.”
Briscoe, the 31-year-old from Mitchell, Ind., said the tire started going away with about six laps to go when he caught a pack of lapped cars, and the car quit turning all at once as the right front started cording.
The victory is Briscoe’s eighth in the Cup Series and his second in a row after winning last weekend at Las Vegas. It is the first time in his career he has won back-to-back Cup races. He led twice for 62 laps on the afternoon.
“I don’t know what it is about these finishes,” Briscoe said. “I’ve got to quit making it so exciting at the end. Just an amazing car. So cool to get Free Bird into Victory Lane.”
For Bell, the runner-up finish was a gut punch. The driver of the No. 20 DeWalt Toyota led a race-high 93 laps and won the second stage, but his team had him managing fuel through the final run. When crew chief Adam Stevens finally told him to flip the switch and go on the last lap, Bell nearly pulled off the comeback.
“I got a lot closer than I thought I was going to,” Bell said.
The 0.029-second margin was the difference between Bell climbing to second in the standings, 35 points behind Kyle Larson, and staying third with a 51-point deficit.
Team owner Joe Gibbs watched the finish with his blood pressure rising.
“That’s always when I’m the most nervous, when a couple of our cars are up front, because I know how bad Christopher wants to win, how bad Chase wants to win,” Gibbs said.
Ryan Blaney finished third after overcoming an early speeding penalty. The Team Penske driver said his team made the car better through the afternoon but he never quite had the pace of the Gibbs Toyotas.
“I just didn’t feel like I had the pace to hang with the 20 or the 19 early in runs,” Blaney said. “They could kind of get out there and I would start to close the gap, but it just wasn’t enough to make up for the early-run pace they had.”
Josh Berry was fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth. Hamlin said his No. 11 Toyota lost its edge once the sun went down and the track cooled off.
“Just the long run speed, and obviously tanked there the last 15 laps or so,” Hamlin said. “I felt like we were a lot better when it was daytime, and then once it cooled off and the track got a little bit faster, we just lost the edge that we had.”
Larson, the defending race winner from pole, led a race-high 97 laps and won the first stage but faded to sixth over the final run. The Hendrick Motorsports driver said he was hanging on with a loose-handling Chevrolet.
“I was not in a position of power. I was hanging on,” Larson said. “The top two pushed really hard, and I could see Denny kind of settled in, so I was settling in just to try to make my tires live. Yeah, just got really, really loose on that run.”
Despite the sixth-place finish, Larson extended his points lead. He sits 49 points ahead of Hamlin with four races remaining in the season.
Briscoe vaulted two spots to fourth in the standings, 65 points behind Larson. After the win, he invoked the memory of his hero Tony Stewart’s improbable run to the 2011 championship.
“My hero is Tony Stewart. He made a pretty unbelievable run, and hopefully we can do the same thing,” Briscoe said.
The race featured six cautions for 33 laps and 11 lead changes among five drivers. Post-race inspection cleared Briscoe’s Toyota with no issues.
The Cup Series heads to Phoenix Raceway next with four races left in the season.
Bank of America 400 Official Results – Charlotte Motor Speedway – Oct. 11, 2026
1. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
2. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
3. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
4. Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
5. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
6. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
7. Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
8. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
9. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
10. Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
11. Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota
12. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
13. Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
14. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
15. Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
16. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
17. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
18. Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
19. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
20. Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
21. Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
22. Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 HYAK Motorsports Chevrolet
24. Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
25. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
26. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
27. Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford
28. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
29. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
30. Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
31. Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
32. Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
33. BJ McLeod, No. 44 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet
34. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
35. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
36. Gray Gaulding, No. 66 Power Source Ford
37. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
38. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
39. William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet