With 25 laps to go, Chase Briscoe may have made the greatest pass of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The 29-year-old made a three-wide pass for the ages in turn three, getting by Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson before passing Ross Chastain for the race lead.
After a big crash in turn 2, Briscoe had the restart of his life, pulling away from the field and seemingly having victory in hand.
However, a man long deprived of victory, two-time champion Kyle Busch, charged with fresh tires, making his way to the back bumper of Briscoe’s No. 14.
As the tire wear evened off, Busch didn’t quite have enough speed to get around Briscoe, coming up one spot short for the second straight week.
The win is the second of Briscoe’s career and locks him into the 2024 playoffs, along with Martin Truex Jr., who clinched a spot earlier in the evening, and Gibbs, who hung on for the final points spot.
With Briscoe’s win, both Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher missed the cut for the 2024 Cup Series playoffs.
Truex Jr. provided the first major storyline of the night, getting loose in turn 1 on lap 2 before over-correcting and collecting the No. 12 of Ryan Blaney. Both drivers were knocked out of the race, putting Truex’s playoff positioning in doubt if a new winner were to visit victory lane.
Pole sitter Wallace led early, and the No. 23 led the field down pit road for green flag stops on lap 30. On lap 46, Larson took the lead for the first time and held it through the second round of green flag stops.
Larson won stage one, with Wallace, Briscoe, Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell rounding out the top five.
Larson beat Wallace off of pit road to retain the lead at the beginning of stage two.
On the restart, Larson would clear Wallace for the lead, with Briscoe and Reddick passing Wallace to get into the top three.
Todd Gilliland and Joey Logano were the first cars to pit under green in stage two, coming in for four fresh tires on lap 151. Larson would pit on lap 153, extending his lead over Briscoe to four seconds.
Brad Keselowski started the second round of green flag stops in the stage on lap 184, with Wallace and Buescher following suit on lap 185.
Larson held his lead over Briscoe after the stops, with the No. 14 falling back after missing pit road on lap 187.
Denny Hamlin would once more pit off sequence from the leaders, coming down pit road on lap 193. The No. 11 would fly through the field late in the…
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