Chase Briscoe made it two straight victories Sunday, beating Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell by just 0.029 seconds in the Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The teammates made contact approaching the finish, delivering the closest Cup finish of the 2026 season.
Briscoe moved into fourth in the Chase standings, 65 points behind Kyle Larson, giving his championship pursuit another important boost.
The decisive move happened on pit road. Bell led before the final caution, but Briscoe’s team delivered an 8.696-second stop, putting the No. 19 ahead for the restart. Bell later erased a deficit of more than two seconds as Briscoe struggled through lapped traffic, nearly stealing the victory at the line.
For Bell, second place brought frustration. He led 93 laps, won the second stage and collected 53 points, yet gained only four points on Larson. It was his eighth runner-up finish of the season.
“I think I’m just in shock right now,” Bell said afterward.
His championship deficit dropped from 55 to 51 points, leaving him needing bigger gains with four races remaining. Bell’s speed kept him in contention, but the narrow loss denied him a much more valuable championship swing.
Larson won the opening stage and finished sixth, extending his advantage over Denny Hamlin to 49 points. Hamlin finished fifth, while Ryan Blaney took third and Josh Berry finished fourth. Joey Logano came home ninth but slipped to sixth in the standings.
Charlotte also delivered costly setbacks. A Lap 77 crash involving Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace and William Byron ended all three drivers’ races. Ty Gibbs finished 34th after earlier contact damaged his suspension.
Cup Chase Standings After Charlotte
| Position | Driver | Behind Larson |
| 1 | Kyle Larson | Leader |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | −49 |
| 3 | Christopher Bell | −51 |
| 4 | Chase Briscoe | −65 |
| 5 | Ryan Blaney | −85 |
| 6 | Joey Logano | −92 |
| 7 | Tyler Reddick | −114 |
| 8 | Austin Cindric | −145 |
| 9 | Ty Gibbs | −156 |
| 10 | Carson Hocevar | −180 |
| 11 | Bubba Wallace | −185 |
| 12 | Chase Elliott | −185 |
| 13 | William Byron | −208 |
| 14 | Daniel Suárez | −215 |
| 15 | Chris Buescher | −216 |
| 16 | Ryan Preece | −227 |
The Cup Chase heads to Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, October 18, with four races remaining.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Series: Corey Day Makes His Move
Corey Day won Sunday’s rain-postponed Blue Cross NC 300 at Charlotte with a daring three-wide pass beneath Jesse Love and Justin Allgaier with 10 laps remaining. He held off Love by 0.728 seconds, earning his fourth victory of the season and second consecutive Chase win.
Day overcame a pit-road penalty that sent him back to 30th earlier in the race. Sheldon Creed finished third, followed by Allgaier and Carson Brown.
The championship race tightened considerably. Creed leads Love by just two points, with Day third, only seven points behind. Day has erased 85 points from his deficit over the last two races.
Carson Kvapil suffered tire trouble and finished 32nd, dropping to fifth in the standings, 40 points behind Creed. The series moves to Phoenix on Saturday, October 17.
Craftsman Truck Series: Riggs Closes In on Honeycutt
Layne Riggs earned his seventh victory of the season Friday in Charlotte’s Ecosave 200, passing championship leader Kaden Honeycutt with seven laps remaining after Honeycutt got loose and brushed the wall.
Christian Eckes finished second, Honeycutt third, Bayley Currey fourth and Chandler Smith fifth. Riggs won the opening stage, while Honeycutt took Stage 2.
An eight-truck crash late in the race brought out a red flag and ended the nights of several drivers, including Connor Mosack and Rajah Caruth.
Riggs trimmed Honeycutt’s championship advantage to 17 points. Smith sits third, 77 points behind, with Eckes fourth at 88 points back.
Honeycutt acknowledged afterward that he focused too much on defending against Riggs instead of running his own race. The Trucks continue their Chase at Phoenix on Friday, October 16.
