“I thought I was gonna win”: Chase Briscoe reacts to battling JGR teammate Denny Hamlin at Dover

With a tire advantage towards the end of the race at Dover Motor Speedway, Chase Briscoe expected to win against Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin. He was fended off in the double OT battle to settle for second place.

On lap 388 of the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400, Briscoe, 30, pitted under caution following red flag conditions due to rain. Five laps later, he was running in sixth when his other teammate, Christopher Bell, spun out while fighting for the lead against Denny Hamlin. He eventually found himself lining up alongside Hamlin on the final restart, but he came up short despite creating strong runs for the lead.

Nevertheless, the #19 Toyota driver thought JGR had a good day scoring a 1-2 finish at the Monster Mile, with Ty Gibbs finishing in fifth place. He avoided taking huge risks in his fight against Hamlin, considering Bell already dropped several positions down to 18th.

“Obviously, I had better tire that helped. Had really good restarts there at the end, and was able to go from 10th to fourth on the first one, and then, obviously, fourth to second, and I thought I was going to win the race, truthfully,” Briscoe said (via SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “I want to make sure at least one JGR car won. There's no point in taking both of us out. So, yeah, good day for the company. 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 added. [0:32]

The second-place finish at Dover improved Chase Briscoe's record to eight top-5s and 10 top-10s. He also has one win earned from Pocono Raceway, where he was the one defending the lead against his veteran teammate Denny Hamlin.

This year marks Briscoe's first season in the #19 JGR Toyota, replacing the 2017 NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr., who retired from full-time competition. He came from the Stewart-Haas Racing team, which closed its operations after the 2024 season.

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“Can’t wait to be back home again in Indiana”: Chase Briscoe looks forward to racing at Indiana following back-to-back second-place finishes

Chase Briscoe expressed excitement for racing in his home race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway next week. The Mitchell, Indiana native will arrive at the Indy track with two consecutive second-place finishes from Sonoma Raceway and Dover Motor Speedway.

In an Instagram post, Briscoe wrote:

“Two weeks in a row finishing 2nd, can’t wait to be back home again in Indiana next week!”

The Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will kick off on July 27 at 2:00 p.m. ET. The race will also host the final round of NASCAR's In-Season Challenge, where Chase Briscoe's teammate, Ty Gibbs, will compete for the $1 million prize against Ty Dillon, who is the last-seeded driver (32nd) in the inaugural mid-season tournament.

Briscoe had only one Cup Series start at Indianapolis with Stewart-Haas Racing, returning a 24th-place finish in the #14 Ford last year. While he had driven for SHR since the 2021 season, NASCAR didn't race at the track from 2021 to 2023 due to several reasons, such as an unexciting racing product on the 2.5-mile stretch.

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Edited by Luke Koshi