Chase Briscoe, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and ranked second entering the bracket due to a strong season including a recent win at Pocono, had high expectations for the event. He anticipated drama, unpredictability, and the chance to compete for a $1 million prize. However, the race turned into “pure chaos,” largely due to a massive crash on Lap 69 that involved 23 cars and effectively ended the day for Briscoe and many others.
Briscoe expressed his disappointment with the format during an interview on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. He acknowledged that while the race was exciting to watch, as a competitor, he disliked starting the bracket challenge with a superspeedway race. He emphasized how superspeedway racing introduces a lot of elements beyond a driver’s control, although this was true for all competitors. Briscoe said:
“I definitely don’t love the superspeedway to start off a bracket challenge and even really being in the bracket at all. There’s so much out of your control as a driver, but it was the same for everybody.” (0:19 onwards)
The 2025 In-Season Challenge was NASCAR’s new concept involving five single-elimination races featuring the top 32 drivers by points before Atlanta. Briscoe, riding momentum from his recent success, was hopeful for a deep run. Unfortunately, the large wreck triggered by contact between Denny Hamlin and John Hunter Nemechek caused a pileup that took out nearly half the field.
During the crash, Briscoe was bumped by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into Carson Hocevar, damaging his No. 19 Toyota’s front end and chassis. NASCAR immediately red-flagged the race, pausing it for seven laps. Despite his crew’s efforts to repair the car for over 30 minutes, officials deemed the chassis damage too severe and ruled the car unsafe to return to the track. This decision reportedly upset Briscoe’s crew chief, James Small, who had an altercation with NASCAR officials, as recalled by Denny Hamlin on his podcast.
Briscoe was officially recorded with a Did Not Finish (DNF) in 35th place, eliminating him from the In-Season Challenge.
Adding to the disappointment, Briscoe’s bracket opponent was his close friend Noah Gragson, who barely qualified for the bracket as the No. 31 seed. Gragson survived the crash and advanced to Round 2 with a 25th-place finish. The day after the race, Gragson made a social media jab at Briscoe by bidding for Briscoe’s race-worn gloves lost in the wreck. Briscoe’s son is a fan of Gragson’s Front Row Motorsports No. 4 car, making the loss to Gragson even harder to accept. Gragson will face Ryan Preece in the next round.
Briscoe reflected on the event, saying that from a competitor’s perspective, he would have preferred a different format or tracks that allow more control and showcase the team effort. However, he acknowledged that from a fan’s perspective, the chaos created was exciting:
“I thought for the bracket challenge, that would have just been a better overall product, at least from the competitors side of things. From the fans side, it definitely created chaos, which is a lot of fun.” (1:03 onwards)
The stark contrast was clear: just a week earlier at Pocono, Briscoe had won his first race with Joe Gibbs Racing and secured a playoff spot, but the unpredictable nature of pack racing at EchoPark Speedway abruptly ended his chance at the $1 million prize.
Looking ahead, the In-Season Challenge moves to the Chicago Street Course for Round 2 on July 6, where 16 drivers will compete head-to-head. For Chase Briscoe, however, the dream of winning the million-dollar prize ended before it really began.
The article was authored by Anurup Chakraborty, a motorsport journalist specializing in NASCAR and F1, who provides in-depth race reports and driver insights.
This detailed coverage highlights Briscoe’s frustration with the superspeedway format in the bracket challenge, the impact of the massive crash, the dynamics with his friend and opponent Noah Gragson, and the broader context of his 2025 season performance and aspirations.
https://youtu.be/JeONuf8TYX4
