Chase Briscoe “had Denny Hamlin there for a second” in tense Dover finish

Chase Briscoe said he felt he “had Denny Hamlin there for a second” in the closing stages of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover.

Equipped with fresher tyres for the final stint, Briscoe quickly climbed up the order in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, slotting into second behind his teammate Denny Hamlin just before the final caution period.

On the penultimate lap, Briscoe got his nose ahead on two separate occasions, but Hamlin cut across him as the final tour began, leaving the Indiana driver with no chance to mount a counterattack.

While Briscoe still came away with his fourth podium in nine races, he was disappointed to miss out on a second victory of the season following his previous triumph at Pocono.

“I thought I did everything I needed to. I thought I had him there for a second,” he lamented. 

“I wish the Camry, the back, was about three inches shorter. I was so close to clearing him. I just couldn’t do it. Obviously, racing a teammate, I wanted to make sure at least a JGR car won.

“Yeah, it was honestly a great day. We weren’t probably a second-place race car, we were a fifth to 10th car. Glad we were able to kind of make a good finish out of it.

“Yeah, would have loved to get our Bass Pro Shops Toyota in Victory Lane. Like I said, I thought we were close. I was two, three inches short of clearing him. Denny did a really good job, they were really good all day.”

Briscoe was running ninth with eight laps to go in the race, but made rapid strides as the race went into overtime.

He was running fourth when a spin for teammate Christopher Bell triggered the penultimate caution, before climbing up to second at the subsequent restart.

“Definitely it’s nice to be on offense,” he said. “It’s good when you’re one of the first two cars. I got a gift when Tyler [Reddick] look the bottom on that initial restart.

“I came out and took the top, got to fourth right away. There at the end, I was surprised that I was able to kind of even stay as close as I was.”

Briscoe revealed he had a worrying moment late in the race, but was able to keep the car straight and avoid any major drama.

“I got really loose. I saw Christopher spin out underneath. That’s the same thing I did, all but spinning out.

“I thought Denny did everything fine. Obviously just wish I would have been on the other end of it.”