Chicagoland win gave Chase Briscoe, No. 19 team 'second breath of life'

Chase Briscoe won for the sixth time in his NASCAR Cup Series career and for the first time in 2026 on July 5 at Chicagoland Speedway, earning a win that bumped him up to eighth in the series standings. 

The victory at Chicagoland also gave a team that has been inconsistent at times this season new life as Briscoe tries to position himself for a championship run. 

"I definitely think it gave us a second breath of life," Briscoe said Thursday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. "The whole season, all we talked about is, what do we need to do to be top five in points at the end of the regular season? At the start of the year, it was how can we win the regular season? It was just how our season kind of started, it all of a sudden became how we can be top five. 

"I'll be honest, this past week leading into Chicago is really the first week me and [crew chief James Small] have ever talked about, well, maybe fifth isn't going to happen."

Chase Briscoe has momentum

Briscoe's win has put him in a position where a top-five finish in the regular-season standings is still in play. With seven races left in the regular season, Briscoe is only 46 points back of fifth-place Chase Elliott. 

"Fifth is a very realistic possibility," Briscoe said. "If we can get it together here these final seven races of the regular season, there's a very realistic chance we can put ourselves in the top five. If you do that, mathematically it just gives you such a great opportunity to battle for the championship."

Briscoe certainly wouldn't mind a similar result at Atlanta this weekend to how he finished at the Hampton, Georgia, venue on Feb. 22, when he finished runner-up to Tyler Reddick.