On Sunday, Denny Hamlin edged across the finish line at Dover by 0.310 seconds, handing his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe a second straight runner-up finish. Despite having fresher tires, Briscoe couldn’t get past Hamlin, instead pushing the No. 11 car through the final two-lap sprint to the checkered flag.
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The pair battled side by side on the white flag lap, their cars brushing doors, before Hamlin pulled ahead and sealed the win. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson claimed third and fourth respectively, while Ty Gibbs brought home another top-five result for JGR.
Fans, however, felt Briscoe should have taken the gloves off and raced Hamlin as aggressively as Larson or Hamlin himself would have. After the race, a frustrated Briscoe posted on X, “Well dang… if you ain’t first, you’re last.” That single line opened the floodgates for fan suggestions.
One replied, “Put teammates in the wall. Larson does it and wins every time.” Another wrote, “I know he’s your teammate, but you should’ve ran him up the track to get by. And when someone asks you about it, you tell them it’s NASCAR’s fault for making a car that cannot pass up front. You had fresher tires. It’s ridiculous you couldn’t pass.”
A die-hard NASCAR fan added, “Coming to the white, you have to clear yourself. Hamlin wouldn’t have hesitated if he was in your position. So why take it easy on him?” A fourth chimed in, “Should’ve roughed him up. Would’ve been a crowd pleaser.”
Well dang… if you ain’t first, you’re last.
— Chase Briscoe (@chasebriscoe) July 20, 2025
Briscoe, for his part, believed victory was within reach. Reflecting on the duel, he said, “I was able to stay just beside him into (Turn) 1. I thought we were going to have a good shot coming into (Turns) 1 and 2. I didn’t think he was going to be able to do that.”
He added, “I almost cleared him off of (Turn) 2. I thought I timed it right, so I was going to clear him going into (Turn) 3, just because I had the lane you typically want to be in. He was able to hang right there. Another two or three inches and I thought I was going to win the race.”
Through 21 races this season, Briscoe has set personal bests in the Cup Series, earning four poles and eight top-five finishes. His Dover performance tied his career-high for top-10 finishes in a single season at 10.
With five races remaining before the playoffs, Briscoe sits eighth in the standings with six playoff points, five from his Pocono victory and one from a stage win at the same track.
