DARLINGTON, S.C. — How quickly things changed for Chase Briscoe on Sunday night at Darlington Raceway.
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He went from believing he would score a historic win to watching another driver, teammate Christopher Bell, do a celebratory interview.
"I just didn't have it go my way there on that last restart," Briscoe said after the race. "There was a couple of guys that stayed out on that restart and we chose the bottom.
"And my gut told me the bottom would be better - it would give me more options, and it just didn't work out. Christopher (Bell) was able to sneak his way up there and get the lead."
Briscoe had the lead at Darlington Raceway with just over 30 laps remaining in the Southern 500, a crown jewel race.
As the two-time defending winner of this race, he had an opportunity to score his third consecutive victory and join Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon as the only drivers to win three Southern 500s in a row.
But then the rain began to fall at the South Carolina track.
It was not heavy precipitation, and it did not lead to NASCAR losing the track. Yet, it was enough to bring out the red flag for 7 minutes and 39 seconds.
This rain also forced a decision among the drivers. They could either stay out on tires with four to five laps of green flag action on them, or they could pit for fresh rubber to complete the final 26 laps.
#NASCAR - The frustration was evident as Chase Briscoe watched Christopher Bell's post-win interview on the big screen.
He had the lead before the final caution for rain, but he lost it due to pit strategy. He missed out on Southern 500 win No. 3. pic.twitter.com/mkMuX0sFZ7— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) September 7, 2026
Briscoe chose to lead the field down pit road ... well, most of the field. Christopher Bell followed in second, but Kyle Larson stayed out from third place. Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, and Ryan Preece followed.
Instead of returning to the track and maintaining the lead, Briscoe fell to fifth in the running order. He had to line up on the third row for the restart.
This shouldn't have been a problem for someone who loves this track, especially with the speed the No. 19 Toyota possessed. However, the team had made some adjustments to the balance believing the end of the race would play out differently.
"We made our setup there based on me getting the lead," Briscoe told FanBuzz. "And so I told them I needed to be just a touch tighter because I was definitely free when I got the lead there for that last caution.
"And yeah, then I just came out running sixth or seventh, and it was too tight to to do anything. So yeah, it's frustrating."
Briscoe still tried. He dove to the bottom and took the field three-wide in an attempt to pass. This didn't work, as he fell back in the pack. Meanwhile, both Ty Gibbs and Bell made key passes to put them in contention for the win.
Bell went on to score his first Southern 500 win while Gibbs finished second. Briscoe ended the night with a sixth-place finish.
Not historic, but still respectable considering that he had run out of fuel after stage 2 and fallen to the back of the field while serving a penalty.
The driver of the No. 19 remained fifth in the Chase standings, but he moved to 37 points back of leader Denny Hamlin, who encountered some issues. This provided some minor consolation as he prepares to head to World Wide Technology Raceway, a track where he posted a runner-up finish last season.
"I guess from a confidence standpoint, I mean to go from dead last to the lead in 80 laps here, I mean, our car was phenomenal," Briscoe said.
"So just yeah, excited for next week too. I mean, we have a car more than capable of winning again, and just have to execute."
