NASCAR: Chase Briscoe holds off Bell at Chicagoland for first win of 2026
· Yahoo Sports
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell battled for the win in NASCAR's return to Chicagoland Speedway, with the former driver prevailing for his first win of 2026.
Briscoe led 51 laps, including the final 35, after starting 12th. He ran in the top five for most of the race and had speed in the final run to hold off the field, beating Bell by just under three-tenths of a second.
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"I honestly did not see this coming," Briscoe said after the win. "I felt like I was struggling in qualifying but [my team] did a great job."
Denny Hamlin, William Byron, and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five. The lead was split between Briscoe, Byron, Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, and Kyle Larson throughout the day. Byron won the first two stages.
The win shoots Briscoe up three spots to ninth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings. A sluggish start to the season had Briscoe outside the top 10 until Sunday.
Hamlin's tight points lead grew even further after Tyler Reddick suffered another mechanical failure. A radiator issue relegated Reddick to a 36th-place finish, and now 44 points behind Hamlin. Reddick led the standings by over 100 points as recently as Charlotte in May.
Bell's path to second was made much more challenging after contact on pit road with another car caused damage and left him mid-pack. Bell recovered and pushed his way to the front.
This was NASCAR's first race at Chicagoland since 2019.
The NASCAR Cup Series is next in action at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta on Sunday, July 12.