Chase Briscoe gets what he wanted, just not who he wanted beside him

BRISTOL, TENNESSEE - APRIL 10: Chase Briscoe, driver of the #5 Hasty Bake/Mobil 1 Toyota, waits on the grid prior to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Tennessee Army National Guard 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 10, 2026 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Winning last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Chase race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway put Chase Briscoe on the front row for Sunday’s Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

There’s only one problem with that scenario: Kyle Larson, the driver Briscoe is chasing for the championship, is starting from the pole beside him.

“It’s definitely a great start, just because we haven’t gotten to start up front in any of these Chase races because of the metrics, for the most part,” said Briscoe, who is sixth in the Chase standings, 84 points behind first-place Larson. “We’ve been 20th on back. From that standpoint, it’s really good.

“The hard part is, the guy we’re trying to catch for the championship will be beside me, and I need to gain all the points I can on him. If we qualify, maybe he doesn’t qualify up there, but maybe I don’t either. So I’m just taking my second place and going on.

“It’s good—outside of Kyle, everybody else is behind us that I’m racing. But the goal is to be champion, not second or third in points.”