“He overachieves”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes a clear case for Denny Hamlin's ‘dangerous’ JGR teammate

Dale Earnhardt Jr. praised Denny Hamlin's teammate, Chase Briscoe, for finding his feet with the #19 Joe Gibbs Racing team. He highlighted Briscoe's tendency to peak late into the postseason and explained how it might throw off his rivals.

Briscoe has seen a steady rise in his performance lately. With two consecutive front row starts backed up by runner-up finishes, the 30-year-old has gained momentum compared to his middling start to the season.

Reflecting upon the same, Earnhardt had this to say about the JGR driver (via Dale Jr. Download, 23:35 onwards):

"Since I guess you know, sometime around the 600, he's been qualifying really good, and he seems to have figured out how to take advantage of the tools that this 19 car has." "And the other thing that I like about Briscoe is he always seems to come on late and especially in the playoffs, he overachieves. And so I'm not sure that anyone else is really ready to make this claim, but I'm feeling like Briscoe to me might be pretty dangerous," he added.

Denny Hamlin's four wins have him topping the playoff standings this season, while Briscoe ranks eighth with a maiden win at Pocono Raceway.

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Chase Briscoe acknowledges Denny Hamlin's mastery in clutch moments

Chase Elliott looked the strongest during Sunday's (July 20) Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400, but it was ultimately between Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe to contend for the win. Hamlin held off a charging Briscoe over two overtime restarts at Dover Motor Speedway.

They even came close to colliding at one point, as the two ran door-to-door during the white flag lap. Notably, Briscoe was on much fresher tires compared to Hamlin, but was still no match for the veteran driver.

During a post-race interview, Briscoe shared his thoughts on the close call.

"I thought I was going to win the race, truthfully.....Would've obviously loved to beat Denny, but there's a reason that guy's won 60-something races. He's just so good. He knows where to put his car in those situations, so learned a lot," he said [via Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, 0:09 onwards].

Denny Hamlin, for his part, shared how their intense final lap duel could've resulted in a wreck and issued a friendly PSA to all his rivals.

Next, the two drivers head to the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a track where Hamlin failed to finish last year. He's also yet to score a win at the crown jewel event and has a dismal average finish of 32.

Fans can watch the race live on TNT Sports at 2 p.m. ET, or listen to radio updates via SiriusXM. The event is scheduled for Sunday, July 27, and it also marks the Champions Round of the In-Season Challenge, where Hamlin's JGR teammate Ty Gibbs competes for a $1 million payout against Ty Dillon.

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Edited by Samya Majumdar