Chase Briscoe In Deep Hole After Latest Rough Result At Phoenix

It's been a rough start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season for Chase Briscoe, one of the four drivers who contended for the Cup Series title last November at Phoenix Raceway. After Sunday's race at Phoenix, the fourth race of the '26 season, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota finds himself in a massive hole, points-wise, without a "win-and-you're-in" rule to bail him out of it.

After a 36th-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, and a 37th-place finish at Circuit of the Americas two weeks ago, Briscoe came home a disappointing 37th at Phoenix after a puzzling crash on Lap 132 of the 312-lap event. The 37th-place result marked Briscoe's second consecutive last-place finish.

And the most recent last-place finish comes on what was a stout day overall for the four-car Joe Gibbs Racing team, as Christopher Bell led a race-high 114 laps en route to a second-place finish, Ty Gibbs finished fourth, and Denny Hamlin came home fifth.

Briscoe also had a good day going, but it all went south in a hurry, for the Indiana native.

At first glance, it appeared that Briscoe suffered a similar fate to other competitors throughout the weekend, a flat tire, but after looking at replays of the crash, it appeared something broke on his car, which caused Briscoe's to skid through Turns 3 and 4, where his car would land hard into the outside wall.

Trouble for Chase Briscoe! 👀 https://t.co/zgv2rI1QLc pic.twitter.com/kUNLKIZuNf
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 8, 2026

After climbing from his car, Briscoe was checked and released from the infield care center. Following his check-up, the 31-year-old, who complained to his team for laps about a vibration prior to the crash, said the issue that occurred on Sunday afternoon was the latest chapter in what has been a rough start to his 2026 story.

"It almost looked like something in my left front. When I had my vibration, I told them that I thought it was in the front end. Just par for the course for how this year started," Briscoe explained. "It was another car that was extremely fast, felt like we were certainly going to be in contention for the win and just another failure for us. Definitely frustrating, we’ll go on to next week and see if we can turn it around with our Bass Pro Shops Toyota team.”

Four races into the 26-race NASCAR Cup Series regular-season, Briscoe finds himself mired 33rd in the championship standings. He's already 178 points behind point leader Tyler Reddick, and he's a whopping 53 points outside of the Chase for the Championship cutoff.

With 22 races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season, Briscoe and his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team have plenty of time to right the ship. However, with three 36th-place-or-worse finishes through the opening four races, you wonder how many muligans Briscoe can afford if he hopes to compete for the championship this fall.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend for the Pennzoil 400. Last fall, Briscoe wheeled his No. 19 JGR Toyota to a fourth-place finish after leading 57 laps in the event. If he can have that type of performance this time around, it will go a long way toward helping him rebound.

The Pennzoil 400 is scheduled for Sunday, March 15, and will be televised on FS1 with coverage set to begin at 4:00 PM ET. The Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the event.