By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
The race for the lead was the show late Sunday afternoon at Dover Motor Speedway.
It started with Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin and ended with another Joe Gibbs Racing showdown between Hamlin and Chase Briscoe.
Following a dramatic spin from the lead by Bell underneath Hamlin on a late restart after a one-hour red flag, Briscoe had the track position to potentially pounce on Hamlin for the win.
With fresher tires on Briscoe’s No. 19 Toyota, a mad two-lap dash gave him the opportunity for win No. 2 of his first year with the JGR outfit.
However, Hamlin was able to clear him on the frontstretch after the white flag and it was runner-up for Briscoe.
“If it wasn’t a teammate, I definitely could have been more aggressive,” Briscoe said of the battle. “Like into [Turn] 3 and putting him into a really bad aero situation.
“The odds of one of us wrecking were pretty high, and I want to make sure a JGR car wins the race. It would not have been a good Monday morning meeting if I go in there and do something and wreck us both and somebody else wins.”
Finishing second last week at Sonoma, Briscoe is on a summer run toward a fruitful playoff position. But race wins are what pay the playoff points.
“I was trying to be smart about it, but also going for the win, too,” he said. “I just needed the back of the Camry to be about three to four inches shorter, I was all but clear [of Hamlin] but couldn’t get it done.”
Despite the near-win, Briscoe was thankful to have a shot, as he was far from contention up until the late-race shake-up between the red flag, tire strategy and multiple restarts.
“We were not the best car, by any means,” he admitted. “We weren’t even a second-place car. Realistically, we should have finished fifth to 10th, that’s just the speed we had.
“We just lacked five percent of what we needed to be the best car. I just could never get there for some reason. Fortunately, we were able to make something out of it at the end, I just we were on the other end of it.”