Chase Briscoe Holds Off Kyle Larson for Las Vegas Jackpot

Chase Briscoe won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his second win of the 2026 season. Briscoe endured a tense duel with Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick that played out over the final green flag run of the race.

Larson gave one last push riding the wall into the third and fourth turns on the final lap, but it wasn’t enough to catch Briscoe. The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 smacked the wall and slid down in front of Tyler Reddick. This sent the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota Camry XSE spinning into the grass. He finished third sliding onto pit road.

Kyle Larson Stays Strong

As it happened, the end of Sunday’s closely mirrored how last week ended at Kansas Speedway. In both races Chase Briscoe dueled Kyle Larson hard for the win. Whereas Briscoe fell short the first time, he triumphed the second. Aerodynamics allowed Briscoe to shut down any run Larson could get over the final 10 laps.

Larson drove a special paint scheme on Sunday, paying tribute to Kyle Busch at the late NASCAR legend’s hometown track. The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was designed to invoke Busch’s own tenure in the No. 5 from 2004 to 2007. The colors of Busch’s

“I sent it into Turn 3 and 4, trying to run the best corner I could to have some momentum and try to pass him and I got loose and just hit the wall,” Larson told PRN. “Thankfully I saved it and finished second, glad Reddick held on, too.”

Changing Momentum

Bubba Wallace seemed poised as Briscoe’s greatest threat for much of Sunday’s final stage, but his car seemed to taper off over the last 20 laps. Fellow 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick got to Wallace first, and the No. 23 car eventually slid all the way back to eighth.

Team Penske’s Austin Cindric continued his hot start to the Chase with a fourth-place finish. Cindric finished second last week in Kansas, demonstrating the No. 2 team’s recent strength on intermediate tracks. The decision to bring Cindric to pit road after Briscoe and Wallace appeared to shuffle him back multiple positions, costing the team a potentially even stronger finish. His teammate Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-five finishers.

Few Chase drivers faced as much adversity as Denny Hamlin. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota spun on Lap 79, though Hamlin was fortunate not to hit anything. Later on, pressure issues were reported just after the end of the second stage. Hamlin, who entered the weekend fighting to reclaim his points lead from Kyle Larson, finished 16th.

Perhaps the only fate worse for a Chase contender than Hamlin’s was that of Christopher Bell. The No. 20 Toyota lost power steering during Sunday’s race, creating a tough handling challenge for a driver who broke his wrist in a June crash. Bell finished 23rd, one lap off the pace.

Chase Outlook

Even though he didn’t come away from the win, Kyle Larson leaves Las Vegas better off than he entered. The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion had a 26-point lead after Kansas Speedway. He’s now grown it to 40 points over second-place Denny Hamlin.

The top-five drivers in the Chase remained the same on Sunday. After Larson and Hamlin it’s Christopher Bell and the Team Penske duo of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney. Race winner Chase Briscoe vaulted ahead of Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick to take sixth in the standings. He went from 123 point behind Larson to just 84 after sweeping both stages.

With Briscoe gaining two spots and Gibbs losing two, only two other drivers moved in the standings at Las Vegas. Daniel Suárez elevated himself from 16th to 14th in points, while Ryan Preece fell from 14th to 16th. With Chris Buescher staying put in 15th, RFK Racing now occupies the final two spots in the 16-driver Chase field.

Race Results