Pocono (Penn.) June 22, 2025 — Chase Briscoe has earned a NASCAR Cup Series season-best four pole positions and led laps in eight races in his first season driving the famous No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and finally – finally - on Sunday afternoon that hard work translated into his first trophy, edging his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin in The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VisitPA.com at Pocono Raceway.
It came down to the suspenseful very final laps, Briscoe having to save as much fuel as possible while maintaining the lead the last 34 laps with Pocono’s all-time winningest driver Hamlin and a two-time Pocono winner, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney directly in his rearview mirror, pushing him lap after lap.
But Briscoe did it — perfectly executing throttle control to maintain the lead and not run his Toyota Camry out of gas — ultimately beating Hamlin across the line by .682-second to formally punch his win-and-in 2025 Playoff ticket.
The 30-year-old Indiana-native led a race best 72 of the 160 laps on the day and even had enough fuel for the well-deserved victory celebration.
“There was a lot of pressure,” Briscoe conceded. “It was kind of weird. I wasn’t driving hard so it’s not like I was on the ragged edge, but it was just so hard having a guy chasing you, especially the guy that’s the greatest of all time here, to be trying to save fuel and everything else.
Hamlin, a three-time winner this year who is returning to competition after missing last week’s Mexico City race to be home in North Carolina for the birth of his son, showed why he is a seven-time Pocono winner, the track’s all-time best.
His runner-up finish marks the 10th time he’s finished first or second at the unique 2.5-mile three-turn Pocono oval. He won in 2023 and now has finished second in the two races since.
Blaney, who earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono in 2017 and answered with a win last year, finished third-place finish - especially impressive considering he started from the back of the grid after making adjustments on his car following qualifying.
Chris Buescher, who like Blaney earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Pocono (2016), started his No. 17 Ford on the outside of the front row and was among the day’s nine leaders – ultimately finishing fourth. Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott was fifth with back-to-back top-five finishes for the first time this year.
Briscoe’s victory – the third of his career - makes him the 11th driver to earn a position in the 16-driver Playoff field – the sixth different in just the last eight weeks.
With nine races remaining to set the Playoff field, Hendrick’s Alex Bowman sits in that 16th-place position, 20-points up on Preece for that final points-only transfer position.
The NASCAR Cup Series moves to Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway for the June 28 Quaker State 400 the In Season Bracket Challenge Round 1 race of the $1 million to-win five-race series.