National Sports

Briscoe holds off Larson in NASCAR Chase in Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- Chase Briscoe held off a last-lap charge from points leader Kyle Larson to win the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Briscoe swept all three stages on the 1.5-mile track to earn the maximum 75 playoff points. Larson lost control on the final stretch, hit the wall and collided with Tyler Reddick, who slid into the infield but still recovered to finish third.

“I saw Kyle charging hard behind me on those final laps,” Briscoe said. “He was pushing as hard as he possibly could on the high line, and I just tried to stick to my defensive marks, stay smooth, and protect the bottom. When you’re driving for a guaranteed spot in the Championship 4, nobody is going to give an inch.”

It was Briscoe’s first career Cup Series victory in Las Vegas, where he led a race-high 175 laps. Briscoe also moved up to sixth in The Chase standings.

Denny Hamlin, who entered second in the playoff standings, finished 16th and was shut out of stage points. Hamlin is still second, but fell 40 points behind Larson.

“I know everyone looks at the points lead and talks about the buffer we have, but I don’t view the gap like that at all,” Larson said. “There are still a lot of points on the table, a lot of restarts left, and anything can happen down the stretch.”

Second stage

Briscoe drove back from third place to pass Austin Cindric late in the second stage for the win. Cindric finished second in the stage, followed by Christopher Bell in third.

Larson salvaged a stage point by finishing 10th, while Hamlin was shut out of stage points in 14th.

Gamble for points

Briscoe won the opening stage ahead of Bell and Ryan Blaney. Briscoe elected not to pit for tires during a late green-flag pit cycle, holding off the field on the restart to secure the stage victory.

Hamlin led the first 39 laps and was running third when he spun three laps before the end of the stage. Although he avoided major damage and continued, the lack of a caution flag caused him to fall back to 28th at the stage break.

Hamlin set the fastest lap of the stage at 29.572 seconds on the third lap.