William Byron looked like a kid who’d just been caught with a pocket full of stolen candy. Chase Briscoe, meanwhile, had the wide-eyed stare of someone who’d accidentally wandered into oncoming traffic. Both had come to Phoenix Raceway on Sunday as championship contenders. Both left looking like they’d just walked out of a tornado.
For Byron, the night was so close to perfection he could practically taste the champagne. He won a stage, led 64 laps—the second most of the race—and looked every bit like a man on the cusp of a title. Then came the gut punch: three laps from glory, a blown tire sent his No. 24 Chevrolet straight into the wall, bringing out the caution that unraveled not only his night but Denny Hamlin’s, too.
“It just doesn’t seem right,” Byron said, shaking his head. “I think just kind of seeing him—he had beat us, and we’re running second, four laps to go—you go into the wall and cause a caution. It sucks, right? I don’t want to be that guy, even if I’m in the Championship 4. Doesn’t really matter. Don’t want to change the outcome. So it sucks.”
It’s one thing to lose. It’s another to take down the fastest car on the track in the process. Up until that point, Hamlin looked untouchable, cruising toward his first title. But the racing gods have a cruel sense of humor. Byron’s right-rear tire failure brought the field back together, setting up an overtime finish that flipped the whole night upside down—Ryan Blaney taking the win, and Kyle Larson, who hadn’t led a single lap, somehow emerging as champion.
As Byron’s night dissolved into smoke and regret, Briscoe’s race was more of a rollercoaster that never stopped clattering. He started strong, fell back, lost a lap, got it back, lost another, then somehow found himself leading the field during the final overtime restart—only to finish 18th. It was the kind of night that tests the patience of saints and mechanics alike.
“I mean, yeah, a little bit,” Briscoe said when asked if it felt like a race of missed chances. “I definitely felt like I was more than capable. Just to go from the back to the front that many times—I would have loved to have just been able to race straight up. I got back to second, was able to run William down there. Thought I was really, really good. I blew like the second or third tire. Yeah, definitely it’s a race of what could have been.”
Still, Briscoe never stopped swinging. “My whole career has been ‘never give up,’” he said. “You never know what can happen. I’ve had it multiple times throughout my career where you just can’t give up in these races. One caution can change everything.”
Both drivers are young enough to have plenty of Sundays ahead of them—but neither was in the mood for silver linings. Byron, typically calm and composed, wasn’t buying the idea that his time will come again. “I don’t look at it that way,” he said. “This could be your last opportunity. I’d love to be in this spot again, but you never know how things are going to work out.”
Briscoe agreed, his voice carrying that blend of frustration and perspective only racing can deliver. “You’re never guaranteed anything in this sport,” he said. “It stings right now because you never know if you’re going to get another opportunity.”
By the time the lights dimmed over Phoenix, Byron and Briscoe had given everything they had—and still ended up watching someone else lift the trophy. But in a sport that chews through hope like it’s fuel, both walked away knowing the cruel truth: sometimes doing everything right still isn’t enough.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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