Chase Briscoe crossed the finish line in second place for the second consecutive time at Sonoma Raceway, but he did not celebrate.
Videos by FanBuzz
He sounded disheartened as he told his team that they provided a great car for Sunday afternoon's race. In fact, he knew that he had a car good enough to beat Shane van Gisbergen, the man who scored his eighth career Cup Series road course win.
"I was better. I just messed up with three or four to go getting into (Turn) 1," Briscoe said after the race. "I don't know. I didn't time my downshift right and about wrecked.
"I lost a ton of ground and was able to run him back down, but if I don't make that mistake, I truthfully, probably win the race. That one is going to sting for a while. Trying to beat him would just be a big accomplishment. Proud of our Columbia Bank Toyota group. That one stings. That one is a tough one."
That one’s gonna sting for a while…
— Chase Briscoe (@chasebriscoe) June 28, 2026
Finishing second behind van Gisbergen at Sonoma Raceway is a familiar experience for Briscoe. He also did so last season but under different circumstances.
Van Gisbergen dominated last season's Cup Series race at Sonoma. He led 97 of 110 laps and swept the stage wins. He beat Briscoe by 1.128 seconds.
This year, van Gisbergen had a solid car at the road course. He scored eight stage points while Ty Gibbs won both stages. He led the most laps on the day (74), but he did not put distance between himself and Briscoe in second place.
Van Gisbergen struggled with handling and burned through his rear tires. He won by a mere 0.357 seconds after also fighting to get through the lapped cars driven by Cody Ware and Daniel Suarez.
A mirror full of @chasebriscoe on the final lap. 👀 pic.twitter.com/eU0hEFXWEj
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 28, 2026
Ultimately, van Gisbergen did just enough to hold off Briscoe at a track where they both run very well. He scored his second win of the season while Briscoe fell short of his first win since Talladega Superspeedway in October 2025.
"Yeah, we had these (expletive) boxes come out in front and they were wobbling all over the track and putting dust and I just kept struggling," van Gisbergen told TNT Sports. "Chase was just really, really good. Yeah, a couple more laps we would have had some problems."
