Chase Briscoe let out a visceral scream as he crossed the finish line at Pocono Raceway. He had scored his first win of the season, and he had paid off the gamble that Joe Gibbs Racing made when it picked him to take over the No. 19 Toyota.
"Joe Gibbs Racing took a big chance on me," Briscoe, a former Stewart-Haas Racing driver, said. "Like, I wasn't everybody's first choice I think.
"Yeah, but for me to be able to get here and finally deliver a win is just an awesome feeling."
MORE: Briscoe wins, full results
Briscoe led a race-high 72 laps at a track where his previous best finish was 15th (2022, '24), but he did not have an easy path to victory lane. Instead, he had a stressful final 41 laps after a mistake on pit road.
The Indiana native was supposed to wait on fuel on his final pit stop. He needed to wait for crew chief James Small to tell him to go. Instead, he left his pit stall when the jack dropped the No. 19 back to the ground.
This small mistake delivered a fast pit stop and kept him ahead of Chris Buescher. However, it meant that he was multiple laps short on fuel. Instead of going all out, Briscoe had to save as much as possible while holding off the rest of the field.
A caution for Shane van Gisbergen spinning provided an opportunity for Briscoe to return to pit road. He and the team chose to stay out, which was a gamble.
This ultimately paid off. Teammate Denny Hamlin cut the lead down to less than a half-second, but he could not get beside the No 19. Pocono is not a track where drivers can easily pass each other, especially in the Gen 7 car.
Hamlin just continued pushing as the laps clicked down, while Briscoe remained disciplined. He hit his lift points, saved just enough fuel, and made it to the end of the race. He even saved enough for a massive burnout on the frontstretch.
"It was kinda weird," Briscoe said. "I wasn't driving hard. It's not like I was on the ragged edge. It was so hard to have a guy chasing you, right, probably the guy that's the greatest of all time here. Trying to save fuel and everything else."