The Call That Changed the Race
Even after his driver secured victory at Las Vegas, James Small, crew chief for Chase Briscoe, publicly challenged Denny Hamlin’s pit strategy. Small argued that the decision to bring Hamlin in for two tires allowed Kyle Larson to use the wave-around and return to the lead lap. This move kept Larson in contention to finish second, just 1.376 seconds behind Briscoe. Small claimed that had the No. 11 car remained on track, Larson would likely have been trapped a lap down.
The drama unfolded during a caution on Lap 45 when Zane Smith spun. Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gayle, brought Hamlin in from the lead for service. Briscoe stayed out on old tires and took the lead. Larson, who had gone a lap down earlier due to a long green-flag stop, gained the advantage. Small admitted he saw the potential issue in the moment. “I thought of that at the time, maybe that would have been the move of the race, but yeah, unfortunately that didn’t happen,” Small said.
This internal critique is rare in the garage. Usually, teammates keep their doubts private. During his post-race press conference, Small raised the issue of the call himself. He did not hide his view that a different strategy could have hurt Larson more. Gayle subsequently supported the critique, noting in retrospect that the stop “wasn’t a great call.” The win kept Briscoe’s championship hopes alive, but the strategy debate overshadowed the celebration.
Redemption and the Battle for Clean Air
Briscoe needed this win to stay in the playoff picture. He entered Las Vegas facing a 123-point deficit. The victory moved him from eighth to sixth in the standings, leaving him 80 points behind Larson. Briscoe led a race-high 175 laps and swept both stages to collect maximum points. Yet, the race was not easy. A thick wall of lapped traffic threatened to erase his lead with fewer than 35 laps to go.
Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, and Larson narrowed the gap until their vehicles touched. Briscoe had to make a desperate block to hold them off. “I thought I was in big trouble,” Briscoe said. “I made a pretty late block on Bubba entering Turn 1. He was an inch away from getting me, and if that happens, I don’t win. Once you lose that clean air, it’s just so hard to get back.”
With roughly 30 laps left, Wallace attempted an inside pass as they entered Turn 1. Briscoe maintained his racing line, pushing Wallace toward the outer part of the track. The contact damaged Wallace’s right-front tire, causing him to drop through the field. Wallace finished eighth, 11.422 seconds behind Briscoe. “Ultimately we paid the price on our front tires,” Wallace said. “I think we started cording and right front. Fell off pretty hard there.”
Larson recovered from a massive setback early in the race. Handling problems forced a prolonged 26-second green-flag pit stop to adjust the rear suspension. Larson dropped a lap and fell to 32nd due to that pit stop. He clawed his way back through the field over 200 laps. “For the first half of Stage 1, our balance was completely off,” Larson said. “The rear suspension felt super tight and we were just fighting the car every lap.”
Consequently, Larson’s Chase lead over Denny Hamlin grew to 40 points. Hamlin spun late in Stage 1 and finished 16th. He is now 40 points behind Larson, a gap that was only 26 points before the race. Briscoe moved up to sixth, 84 points back. The team knows they have a narrow path forward. Small said, “If we can have more solid weeks, anything’s possible.”
Small pointed to the upcoming schedule as a reason for hope. “We’ve still got some really good tracks coming up for us, so we’re definitely not out of it,” he said. “Phoenix is gonna be a great track for us, and we get Homestead.” Briscoe echoed this sentiment, noting they are still in the mix. “It’s still a long way to go, but we kept ourselves in the ball game,” Briscoe said.
The motorsports series’ 10-race Chase has only five races left. On Sunday, Oct. 11, the Cup Series will travel to Charlotte. The next race will test the team’s ability to maintain momentum. Briscoe’s crew chief, James Small, is from Melbourne, Australia. He was the crew chief for Martin Truex Jr. from 2020 to 2024, winning eight races together. Since 2025, he has collaborated with Briscoe on the No. 19 team. His experience shows in how he analyzes every move, even the ones that led to a win.
Small praised the competition that nearly cost his driver the race. “Yeah, they just show what a quality team they are,” Small said regarding Larson’s team. “Cliff (Daniels) does an amazing job, and Kyle (Larson) is a hell of a wheelman. They never stop fighting, and you’ve seen that from that team through the whole time they’ve been together.”
