CUP: Briscoe the lone retiree of Cup Series’ historic return to Bowman Gray Stadium
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Joe Gibbs Racing, @JoeGibbsRacing
Chase Briscoe finished last in Sunday’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium when his #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota fell out with steering issues after 120 of 200 laps.
With the collapse of Stewart-Haas Racing, the plight of its four drivers – and Charters – fundamentally altered a significant portion of the Cup Series field for 2025. Briscoe, who gave SHR its lone Cup win that season with a dramatic winless streak-breaking victory in the Southern 500, found a safe landing at Joe Gibbs Racing. There, he’s taken the place of Martin Truex, Jr., who chose to step away from full-time Cup racing at the end of the year. Truex went winless in 2024, but finished the year in fine style by sweeping the last two poles of the season at Martinsville and Phoenix.
Briscoe was among the 39 entries set to contest the starting lineup for Sunday’s 23-car 200-lap main feature. Based on the Owner Points that Truex earned in the 2024 season – 10th overall – Briscoe was set to compete in the third and final practice groups. On Saturday, he ranked 13th among all entries, then improved to 6th in the final practice session that set the lineups for the four 25-lap heat races. This placed him on the outside-pole for Heat Race 2.
HEAT RACES
In Heat Race 1, Ty Dillon started 10th and last in the second Kaulig Racing entry, the #10 Sea Best Chevrolet. He also started to the outside of older brother Austin Dillon in the #3 Bass Pro Shops / Winchester Chevrolet, who stayed ahead of Ty until Lap 3, when Austin clipped the curb off Turn 2 and spun. Austin stopped on track until the caution was thrown just moments before he could be lapped. On the Lap 4 restart, Austin lagged back by about a carlength and remained last on Lap 6, when the caution fell for a game of bumper tag between multiple cars in the middle of the pack. The two brothers traded spots on the Lap 7 restart with Austin now on the outside of Ty, but by Lap 8 both dropped to last Josh Berry, who spun his #21 Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford, but didn’t draw the caution. Next to take the spot on Lap 14 was Justin Haley, whose #7 The Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet was involved in multiple incidents early in the heat. Next to fall back on Lap 17 was Ryan Blaney, whose #12 Menards / Great Lakes Flooring Ford spun after contact from Ty Dillon. Blaney suffered what was first reported to be a tire rub, but later was found to be a hole in the oil cooler. This likewise didn’t draw the caution flag, leaving the track in a haze of smoke as he took the checkered flag in last place.
Heat Race 2 saw Garrett Smithley take the green 10th and last in the rebranded Garage 66 entry, the #66 Veterans Ranch Ford. Smithley and 9th-place starter Cody Ware in the #51 Mighty Fire Breaker / Red Cross Ford trailed the field by open track on Lap 2, but Smithley fell another second back of Ware on Lap 10, when Ware was battling Kyle Larson’s struggling #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. The interval grew to two seconds on Lap 14. In the final laps, Briscoe reeled in leader Chris Buescher in the #17 Kroger / Tree Top Ford just as both were about to lap Smithley. Through Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap, Smithley held the inside line and crossed the stripe just ahead of the pair. By finishing in the Top Five, Briscoe’s runner-up finish secured him 6th on the grid for Sunday’s 200-lap main.
The last-place battle in Heat Race 3 was decided by the weekend’s two hometown heroes: 9th-place starter Tim Brown, Bowman Gray’s late model champion in the #15 Dairi-O / Jerry Hunt / Hayes Ford, and 10th-place Burt Myers, the modified star, in Team AmeriVet’s #50 CitrusSafe Cleaners Chevrolet. Starting on the outside of Row 5 as the slowest driver in practice, Myers held the 10th spot and at first stayed in touch with the rest of the field. But by Lap 8, Myers had fallen five seconds back of the lead and a half-second back of the still 9th-place Brown. By Lap 14, the pair were more than two seconds behind 8th-place Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in the #47 SunnyD Chevrolet. On Lap 17, Myers caught and passed Brown, who fell to last place. In just five laps, Myers built a three-second gap over Brown, who like Smithley in Heat Race 2 was soon caught by leader Denny Hamlin in the #11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota. With two to go, Brown moved to the high lane in Turns 3 and 4, letting Hamlin past en route to his heat victory over Joey Logano’s #22 Shell / Pennzoil Ford.
The final nine entrants filled the grid for Heat Race 4, leaving Michael McDowell’s #71 Workforce Chevrolet by himself on the inside of Row 5. By Lap 2, McDowell dropped to last the #42 Dollar Tree Toyota of John Hunter Nemechek, whose car trailed the outside line in Row 4. Nemechek re-passed McDowell, who was still in that spot on Lap 6 when trouble broke out ahead. A tight battle for position between A.J. Allmendinger’s #16 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet and Cole Custer’s #41 HaasTooling.com Ford saw Allmendinger dive under Custer off Turn 4, then force Custer into the outside wall. The impact caused Allmendinger to cross Custer’s nose, steering him head-on into the outside wall. Both drivers continued under the resulting caution, where Allmendinger was now the last-place runner. By the finish, Allmendinger dropped Custer to last place. The pair were split by Nemechek, who was spun from a Lap 7 battle with Ryan Preece’s #60 Fastenal Ford.
LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER
Custer, Brown, Smithley, and Blaney were among the 19 drivers set to start Sunday’s 75-lap Last Chance Qualifier, whose top two finishers would join the top-five finishers of all four heats in the 200-lap main. Blaney had the option not to compete in the race as the highest-ranked driver in 2024 points not already locked-in – series champion Joey Logano locked himself in by finishing 2nd in Heat Race 2. Brown rolled off last to start the LCQ, but during the pace laps pulled ahead of Blaney, whose team replaced his busted oil cooler. Brown’s spotter then urged him to pass the cars of Nemechek, Allmendinger, and Custer, who all required repairs after the heats and thus incurred the same penalty.
When the green flag dropped, Blaney was behind by open track, and remained there until Lap 9. That time by, Riley Herbst’s #35 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota dropped off the pace and pulled into the garage at Turn 3, saying he had issues with the steering. With their driver now multiple laps down and well out of contention to advance into the main, Herbst’s crew still planned to return to the track, if only to test the brakes. He first returned before the Lap 17 restart, pulling up to the yellow barrels at pit exit before he was allowed to rejoin the field. He then pulled behind the wall a second time and returned once more on Lap 24, just before another restart, now showing 15 laps down. That time by, Blaney was still trailing the field when he pulled behind the wall, deciding to rely on the provisional to make the main event. Herbst remained on track this time, dropping Blaney to last on Lap 39. Herbst finished the race in 17th, earning five of his laps back. He came home 17th ahead of Burt Myers, whose #50 was wrecked in the late stages by Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
MAIN EVENT
It was now time for the 200-lap main, where Blaney reassumed his position in 23rd and last on the grid. This time, he made quick work of Berry’s damaged car, which by Lap 3 was now in last place, 15.006 seconds back of the lead. Berry held the spot until Lap 20, when contact from Daniel Suarez’ #99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet into Gragson sent Kyle Busch’s #8 Zone Chevrolet spinning in Turn 4. Busch lost a lap as he rejoined the field, and Berry made hard contact with Blaney’s rear bumper as the field slowed. On the restart, Busch let the field roll away from him, both lanes blocked by the side-by-side battle of Blaney and Berry. Busch made several runs at Berry, but didn’t pass another car until Lap 38, when he caught and passed 22nd-place Todd Gilliland. Gilliland, whose #34 Long John Silver’s Ford was still on the lead lap, re-passed Busch on Lap 47.
On Lap 54, Busch worked his way past new 22nd-place runner Gragson, who by Lap 59 was the first to be lapped by leader Chase Elliott. “I can’t fucking turn,” said Busch as he now tried to hold off the fast-closing Elliott. But on Lap 71, Elliott made it under him off Turn 4, putting Busch a second lap down. Moments later on Lap 78, as Elliott set up teammate William Byron, Byron’s #24 Liberty University Chevrolet clipped the wall and spun into the outside wall, nearly collecting Busch. Byron, too, lost a lap, dropping him to 22nd as he pulled behind the wall for momentary repairs. Busch continued to fight a tight condition, saying changes made under his first stop after the Lap 20 spin only lasted for seven laps before the car regressed. “No drive,” he said. “I can spin the tires all the way down the straightaway.” Soon after on Lap 101, the caution fell for the halftime break, giving Byron his lap back.
Byron wrecks in front of leader Elliott, from last-place runner Busch. (SCREENSHOT: MAX)
Busch’s crew worked under the hood during the break, and he returned to the track still two laps down in last place. Ahead of him came Berry, who was sent to the tail end of the longest line for running over the choose cone. Berry and Busch swapped positions before the restart, where Busch again ran well behind the tail end of the field. Moments later, Briscoe had his first incident of the night when contact from Austin Cindric’s #2 Freightliner Ford caused Briscoe to spin into the grass with Kyle Larson. Both continued, though each now ran further back in the lineup, and Busch now had one of his laps back. He received the other one on Lap 109, when another chain-reaction sent Carson Hocevar’s #77 Delaware Life Chevrolet careening into the tire barrier at Turn 3.
On the Lap 112 restart, Busch jumped to the outside of Berry, who fell back to last place, but Berry fought back as both were now trapped behind Briscoe and Gragson. Moments later, Larson and Byron spun for a second time – this time in the same incident – which dropped Byron to last on Lap 115. Byron now set to work on Busch, looking to drop the #8 to last place once more. But before he could, Brad Keselowski’s #6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford spun off the nose of Bubba Wallace’s #23 Columbia Toyota, sending both Hocevar’s #77 and Alex Bowman’s #48 Ally Chevrolet into the infield grass. Briscoe stopped at the scene for what seemed like incidental contact, and he pulled behind the wall under the ensuing yellow. After the crew looked under the hood, however, he pulled up to the team’s hauler, and on Lap 123 – mere moments after taking last place – NASCAR confirmed “19 out, steering.”
Briscoe exits the track under caution at Turn 3. (SCREENSHOT: MAX)
Briscoe’s was the only car out of the race. Keselowski, Gragson, and Bowman took the top three spots in the Bottom Five, moving ahead of Daniel Suarez, who lost two laps in the run to the checkers. Busch managed to climb to 15th, but again lost a lap during that run.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #19 had never before finished last in a Cup Series points-paying race at Bowman Gray Stadium.
*Briscoe is the first driver to finish last due to “steering” issues in the Busch Clash, though in 2022, teammate Denny Hamlin dropped out after 52 laps around the L.A. Coliseum due to a “power steering” failure. As to Bowman Gray itself, the only time “steering” issues left a driver in last place of a Cup points-paying race was on June 25, 1960, when Smokey Cook’s #3 1952 MG dropped out after 1 lap of the International 200.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
23) #19-Chase Briscoe / 120 laps / steering
22) #99-Daniel Suarez / 198 laps / running
21) #6-Brad Keselowski / 199 laps / running
20) #4-Noah Gragson / 199 laps / running
19) #48-Alex Bowman / 199 laps / running
