Chase Briscoe Holds Off Christopher Bell to Win a Thriller in NASCAR’s Return to Chicagoland Speedway
RPW EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY: Steven Brien / RPW – JOILET, IL – Chase Briscoe held off a charging Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell over the closing laps to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season in Sunday’s eero 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Briscoe led 51 laps after taking the lead from William Byron during a pit cycle and secured the sixth victory of his Cup Series career.
“I feel so American winning in the Bass Pro Shops red, white, and blue car on the Fourth of July Weekend,” Briscoe said after climbing from his No. 19 Toyota. “What a cool weekend to win a NASCAR race.”
“Out of all the people to race against, I knew Christopher [Bell] was gonna be clean with me,” he added. “I feel like that was as good of a race as you can get.”
Bell finished second after overcoming pit-road damage sustained in Stage 1 following contact with Todd Gilliland.
“Toyotas are fast,” Bell said after hopping out of his No. 20 Toyota. “It seems like a monkey can drive them, so it’s just disappointing whenever you get beat by another monkey.”
Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin finished third and extended his points lead over Tyler Reddick to 44 after Reddick suffered an oil-cooler failure in Stage 2.
“I just pushed it too far into the wall there for a few laps and had to settle for third,” Hamlin said.
William Byron swept both stages for the first time this season and finished fourth after leading a race-high 94 laps.
“I felt like we really maximized what we could do,” Byron said. “I just didn’t have quite the pace to keep up with him.”
Alex Bowman, the 2019 winner at Chicagoland, finished fifth and advanced in the In-Season Challenge over Austin Cindric.
“Just did a good job all day and didn’t have anything go wrong,” Bowman said after climbing from his No. 48 Chevrolet. “It’s a million bucks, somebody’s got to win it.”
“Might as well be us,” he added.
Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Corey Heim and Riley Herbst rounded out the top 10.
Byron held off teammate and In-Season Challenge rival Kyle Larson to win Stage 1, his second stage victory of the season.
Wallace finished third in the stage, followed by Cindric and Briscoe. Chris Buescher, Herbst, Hamlin, Gibbs and Reddick also earned stage points.
Connor Zilisch’s difficult summer continued when he crashed hard into the inside wall on the backstretch during the opening lap, resulting in his fourth last-place finish of the season.
The incident began when John Hunter Nemechek squeezed Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into the wall, forcing Ryan Preece to check up before Erik Jones turned him into Zilisch. Preece later lost four laps after being towed to the garage with four flat tires.
Byron then held off Briscoe to win Stage 2 and complete the stage sweep. Hamlin finished third, Gibbs fourth and Blaney fifth. Bell, Chase Elliott, Bowman, Cindric and Nemechek rounded out the top 10.
Larson spun from third place in Turn 4 on Lap 93 and became stuck in the grass, bringing out the fifth caution of the race. Larson lost multiple laps after being pushed back to pit road on four flat tires, which damaged the underside of his Chevrolet.
Reddick’s recent struggles continued on Lap 133 when debris punctured his oil cooler after passing through the radiator, sending the No. 45 Toyota to the garage multiple laps down and allowing Hamlin to extend his points lead.
The caution flag would wave again on lap 32 when Zane Smith drove Carson Hocevar and himself straight into the wall in turn one. The incident appeared to stem from an ongoing rivalry between them.
Austin Hill later crashed hard into the outside wall in Turn 4 on Lap 48 after contact from Shane van Gisbergen. The incident appeared to be retaliation for the crash Hill triggered in San Diego that eliminated van Gisbergen while battling on the front row.
In the In-Season Challenge, Briscoe advanced past Gibbs and will face Elliott next week at Atlanta after Elliott eliminated Michael McDowell. Bell defeated Buescher and will face Hamlin in the quarterfinals.
Byron eliminated Larson and will face Blaney next week, while Bowman’s Cinderella run as the No. 32 seed continued after advancing past Cindric. Bowman will face Gilliland, who eliminated Hocevar.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to EchoPark Speedway next weekend for the quarterfinal round of the In-Season Challenge.
NASCAR Cup Series Race – eero 400
Chicagoland Speedway
Joliet, IL
Sunday July 5, 2026
- (7) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 267.
- (6) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 267.
- (1) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267.
- (10) William Byron, Chevrolet, 267.
- (12) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267.
- (8) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267.
- (14) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 267.
- (5) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 267.
- (28) Corey Heim (i), Toyota, 267.
- (18) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 267.
- (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267.
- (31) Joey Logano, Ford, 267.
- (23) Austin Cindric, Ford, 267.
- (26) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.
- (22) Erik Jones, Toyota, 267.
- (29) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 267.
- (11) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 266.
- (19) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 266.
- (3) Chris Buescher, Ford, 266.
- (27) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 266.
- (4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 266.
- (15) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 266.
- (17) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 266.
- (25) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 266.
- (30) Shane van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 266.
- (24) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 266.
- (32) Noah Gragson, Ford, 266.
- (16) Zane Smith, Ford, 266.
- (38) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 266.
- (37) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 266.
- (33) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 266.
- (20) Ryan Preece, Ford, 266.
- (34) Josh Berry, Ford, 265.
- (2) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 265.
- (36) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, 256.
- (13) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 237.
- (35) Austin Hill (i), Chevrolet, Accident, 47.
- (21) Connor Zilisch (R), Chevrolet, Accident, 0.
