TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) Chase Briscoe gave Joe Gibbs Racing its second spot in NASCARs championship-deciding season finale with an overtime victory Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
Briscoe raced to his first career superspeedway victory to join teammate Denny Hamlin as Toyota drivers guaranteed slots in the four-driver winner-take-all finale at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks.
Briscoe was sixth on the restart a two-lap sprint in overtime to the finish and Hendrick Motorsports drivers William Byron and Kyle Larson split the front row and lined up side-by-side for the Chevrolet drivers to control the restart.
Byron was getting help from behind from fellow Chevrolet driver Carson Hocevar, a driver for Hendrick aligned Spire Motorsports. Larsons push was from Toyota driver Bubba Wallace, who did get Wallace into the lead.
But Larson appeared to run out of fuel and dropped dramatically off the pace and Byron, who is in danger of playoff elimination, lost his chance at victory when his push from Hocevar was too strong and it caused Byron to spin.
Briscoe, meanwhile, had no problems with all his help coming from JGR driver Ty Gibbs, the only one of his teammates not eligible for the championship.
Ty Gibbs, just incredible teammate there. I mean, I honestly would not have won that race without Ty, Briscoe said. This is an amazing team effort. I cant believe I won a superspeedway race. I havent done it at any level.
There are two open spots left in the championship field to be determined next week in the finale of the third round of the playoffs. Larson and JGR driver Christopher Bell are above the elimination line, while Byron, Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott, and Team Penske drivers Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney are below the cutline.
Logano and Blaney have combined to win the last three Cup titles for Penske.
The race went to overtime when Chris Buescher was leading with two laps to go and he was spun from behind by Byron, who was shoved into Buescher by Hocevar. Buescher spun across the front of the pack and slammed hard into an inside wall in a one-car crash that sent the race to overtime.
Todd Gilliland finished second in a Ford for Front Row Motorsports the team that alongside Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing is headed to mediation Tuesday in a federal antitrust suit and Gibbs was third. Wallace, who drives for 23XI, was fourth.
Elliott in early crash
Chase Elliotts chances to advance into the final four took a hit when NASCARs most popular driver was collected in the first crash of the race.
Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR champion, was already below the cutline for elimination when he was caught in an early eight-car crash 52 laps into the race. It sent the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to the garage for repairs and dropped Elliott to last in the 40-car field.
Elliott now goes to Martinsville Speedway in a must-win situation to advance to the title-deciding finale at Phoenix for the first time since 2022.
It is what it is, I cant change it now, Elliott said. Just all eyes on Martinsville and try to go up there and get a win.
Elliott won Martinsville once before, in 2020, when he parlayed the victory into his only Cup title.
Up Next:
The final race to set the championship four, next Sunday at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, where Blaney won last year to advance to the title deciding playoff finale.
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AP auto racing:
【美联社阿拉巴马州塔拉迪加电】周日，蔡斯·布里斯科在塔拉迪加超级赛道加时赛中夺冠，为乔·吉布斯车队赢得第二个晋级席位，锁定NASCAR赛季收官战冠军争夺资格。
布里斯科（Briscoe）斩获职业生涯首个超级赛道冠军，与队友丹尼·哈姆林（Denny Hamlin）共同为丰田车队锁定两个席位，将参加两周后在凤凰城赛道举行的四人终极对决冠军赛。
比赛重启时，布里斯科（Briscoe）位居第六——这是加时赛阶段的两圈冲刺。亨德里克赛车运动车队的威廉·拜伦（William Byron）与凯尔·拉尔森（Kyle Larson）分列头排，两人并排发车，为雪佛兰阵营掌控重启局面。
拜伦（Byron）得到了同为雪佛兰车手的卡森·霍切瓦尔（Carson Hocevar）从后方的协助，后者效力于与亨德里克车队合作的斯派尔赛车（Spire Motorsports）。而拉尔森（Larson）则获得丰田车手布巴·华莱士（Bubba Wallace）的助推，正是这次助力让华莱士成功取得领先位置。
然而拉尔森似乎因燃油耗尽而骤然减速，而面临季后赛淘汰风险的拜伦，在霍切瓦尔的强力推动下失控打转，痛失夺冠机会。
与此同时，布里斯科（Briscoe）并不介意他的全部援助都来自JGR车手泰·吉布斯（Ty Gibbs）——这位队友是车队中唯一没有冠军争夺资格的成员。
“泰·吉布斯（Ty Gibbs）真是个不可思议的队友。说实话，没有泰的帮助，我根本赢不了这场比赛，”布里斯科（Briscoe）说道。“这是团队合作的辉煌成果。我简直不敢相信自己赢下了超级赛道比赛——这在任何级别的赛事中都是我的首次突破。”
季后赛第三轮决赛将于下周举行，届时将决出冠军争夺战中剩余的两个席位。拉尔森和JGR车手克里斯托弗·贝尔目前处于安全线以上，而拜伦、亨德里克队友蔡斯·埃利奥特以及彭斯克车队车手乔伊·洛加诺和瑞安·布莱尼则暂居淘汰区。
洛加诺（Logano）与布莱尼（Blaney）联手为潘世奇车队（Penske）赢得了最近三届杯赛冠军。
比赛进入加时阶段：当时克里斯·布舍尔（Chris Buescher）在剩余两圈时领先，却被拜伦从后方撞击失控——后者是因霍切瓦尔的推挤而撞上布舍尔。布舍尔的赛车在车阵前打转，随后猛烈撞向内侧护墙，这场单车事故直接导致赛事进入加时赛。
托德·吉利兰驾驶福特赛车为Front Row Motorsports车队获得第二名——该车队与迈克尔·乔丹拥有的23XI Racing车队将于周二就一起联邦反垄断诉讼进行调解——吉布斯位列第三。为23XI车队效力的华莱士获得第四名。
埃利奥特在比赛初期遭遇撞车事故
纳斯卡最受欢迎的车手蔡斯·埃利奥特在比赛首起撞车事故中卷入，这让他晋级最终四强的机会大打折扣。
2020年NASCAR冠军埃利奥特在比赛进行到第52圈时，卷入一场八车相撞的早期事故，当时他已处于淘汰线以下。这次事故使得亨德里克赛车运动车队的雪佛兰赛车被迫进入维修区修理，埃利奥特的名次也跌至40辆参赛车的末位。
埃利奥特（Elliott）目前必须在马丁斯维尔赛道（Martinsville Speedway）背水一战，只有获胜才能自2022年以来首次晋级菲尼克斯（Phoenix）的冠军决战。
“事已至此，我无法改变现状，”埃利奥特说道，“现在要做的就是专注马丁斯维尔站，全力以赴争取胜利。”
埃利奥特曾在2020年赢得过马丁斯维尔站的胜利，并将这场胜利转化为他唯一一次杯赛总冠军。
接下来：
决定冠军四强席位的最后一战将于下周日在美国弗吉尼亚州的马丁斯维尔赛道打响。去年，布莱尼（Blaney）曾在此夺冠，成功晋级争夺总冠军的季后赛终极对决。
美联社赛车新闻：
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