CUP: By just 28 laps, Chase Briscoe’s engine failure in Martinsville sends LASTCAR Cup Series title battle to Phoenix
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92
Chase Briscoe picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s XFINITY 500 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota lost the engine after 295 of 500 laps.
The finish, which came in Briscoe’s 179th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series points-paying race since September 8, 2024 at Atlanta, 44 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 50th for the #19, the 200th for Toyota, and the 727th from engine issues. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 90th for the #19, the 431st for Toyota, and the 1,161st from engine trouble.
In this, his first year driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, the former Stewart-Haas Racing standout has enjoyed easily the best season of his Cup Series career. After a stumble in the Clash, where steering issues put him in last place, Briscoe won his first of seven poles in the Daytona 500, and earned his first of 15 top-five finishes by taking 4th in the big race. He then punched his ticket into the Playoffs with a hard-fought win at Pocono and opened the postseason by dominating the Southern 500, leading 309 of 367 laps. His third win of the season came just last week in Talladega, earning him a spot alongside JGR teammate Denny Hamlin in the “Championship Four.” This eased the pressure of Sunday’s race in Martinsville.
Of the 37 drivers entered for Sunday’s race, Briscoe ranked just 26th with a lap of 19.934 seconds (94.994mph). He then qualified 9th with a lap of 19.376 seconds (97.729mph).
Securing the 37th and final starting spot was Casey Mears, who made his 600th career NASCAR start in Friday’s Truck Series race at the Martinsville track – ironically his series debut – and finished 24th. Mears drove for Carl Long’s team that night, and would again on Sunday, driving the #66 S.I. Yachts Ford. No drivers incurred tail-end penalties prior to the race, so Mears lined up last on the inside line behind the #4 Farm Rich Ford of Noah Gragson.
When the green flag dropped, Mears remained bottled-up behind Gragson while Cody Ware’s #51 Rexzilla / Kick.com Ford pulled away up high, Mears trailing the field by 5.374 seconds. By Turns 3 and 4, Gragson jumped to the high lane, attempting a pass on A.J. Allmendinger’s #16 Black’s Tire Chevrolet. Gragson moved past Allmendinger, who fell into the clutches of Mears. On Lap 2, Mears looked under Allmendinger, who checked-up behind Gragson, who also moved low, now blocking Allmendinger behind Ware. On Lap 4, Mears snapped loose in Turn 4, losing ground to both Allmendinger and Gragson. On Lap 6, Ware was running the inside line when Allmendinger dropped him to 36th. Ware, too, broke loose entering Turn 1 on Lap 9, opening the inside line for Mears. Mears took advantage, and fought past in Turns 3 and 4. Ware also battled back up high until Mears finally cleared him past the stripe. Mears then pulled away, his spotter telling him Ware was overdriving to get back to his rear bumper.
On Lap 15, Ware was told he was running better in the center than Mears, and began chipping away at his two-tenth of a second gap to the #66. He caught and passed Mears on Lap 19, then immediately built up a gap of nearly three-tenths. Now it was Mears who was struggling, reporting his Ford “won’t get through the center.” On the verge of losing a lap to the leaders, Mears was saved by a timely caution on Lap 28 after contact between Bubba Wallace and Zane Smith nearly spun Daniel Suarez’ #99 Jockey Infinite Cool Underwear Chevrolet.
An extended stop for several adjustments caused Mears to lose a lap, though he remained in the Free Pass position as he returned to the track. He’d be joined in 36th by Riley Herbst, whose #35 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota made multiple stops under caution. On the Lap 36 restart, Mears remained the only driver off the lead lap, and Herbst soon made it past Ware for the 35th position. Mears now told his spotter to alert him when he was locking up his tires, and team owner Carl Long called for another two pounds of air in his tires. On Lap 53, Ware dropped Herbst back to 36th. Mears reported he was still too tight, so Long replied he’d make bigger adjustments on their next stop.
On Lap 70, Mears was catching the trailing 36th-place Herbst on track just as race leader William Byron caught them both. Byron lapped Mears through Turns 3 and 4, putting Mears a second lap down, then lapped Herbst on the straightaway. Herbst was now struggling so badly with his car that he too fell into the grasp of Mears, who passed him off Turn 4 on Lap 72. Herbst made a green-flag stop around Lap 82, taking last from Mears on Lap 83. But Herbst was then caught speeding in Section 12, sending him back down pit road. He returned to the race still in last, now between three and four laps down. Mears lost his third lap by Lap 104, putting him on the same lap as Herbst, but Herbst remained in last at the end of Stage 1 on Lap 121.
Under the Stage 1 ending caution, Mears briefly retook the last spot on Lap 131 before Herbst retook it on Lap 4. He again made a second stop under the caution, and now showed four laps down. On the Lap 145 restart, Herbst was catching up to the tail end of the field, remaining one lap behind 36th-place Mears. On Lap 164, Herbst then reported an electrical issue, saying his battery was down to 11.29 volts. The team told him to shut off his fans, and advised him to keep giving the team voltage readings. “When it gets to 11-3, I’ve gotta put another battery in it,” he was told. Herbst shut off all his fans. The team asked for more feedback on Lap 204, but an exhausted Herbst barely replied.
On Lap 217, when the third caution fell for Carson Hocevar spinning his #77 Modo Casino Chevrolet, Herbst radioed he now had steering issues. On Lap 230, during the next caution for a spin by Cole Custer’s #41 Texas A&M University Ford, Herbst’s voltage dropped to 11.2, then 11.0, so the team called him in for a battery change. Herbst came in and shut off the engine, then re-fired with 12.9 volts. He only lost one roe lap, showing five laps down, but had to make a second stop for tires. He was instructed to keep running only the fans for the front brakes.
On Lap 242, the fifth caution of the day fell when Cody Ware’s #51 lost a right-rear wheel in Turn 4, causing him to spin and stall on the track. Ware made it back to pit road, where he incurred a two-lap penalty for the errant wheel. On Lap 247, this dropped the already lapped Ware a full six laps down, one lap behind Herbst, as the new last-place runner. Ware returned to the track, reporting his car was free off the corner, and was warned that Mears was running off the pace in the top lane on old tires. Ware remained in last place when Stage 2 ended on Lap 262, then made a pair of stops under the ensuing yellow, dropping him eight laps down. The first of these stops was for extended repairs to the right side of his Ford. Now past the race’s halfway mark, Ware held the last spot, three laps behind 36th-place Herbst, with all 37 starters still on the track.
Meanwhile, Chase Briscoe hadn’t yet contended for the lead, though he did take 6th at the end of Stage 2. On Lap 294, he was running in 12th just ahead of Todd Gilliland’s #34 Grillo’s Pickles Ford and the #1 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet of Ross Chastain when Briscoe suddenly slowed halfway down the backstretch. He made it through Turns 3 and 4, then continued to slow on the frontstretch, dropping more positions. When the spotter asked what was happening, the driver responded, “I’m blowing up.” He then pulled to the low lane down the backstretch and made it to pit road, stopping in his space at Stall 28, just short of the finish line. The crew looked under the hood and had Briscoe look on the third page of his digital dashboard. Briscoe responded all the numbers were at zero except the second one from the left, showing 192. He shut off the engine, then was pushed back to the narrow opening between Stalls 33 and 34 on the Turn 4 side, between the stalls for Brad Keselowski and Austin Cindric. The crew pushed him to Garage Stall No. 4 on the backstretch, and on Lap 305, the #19 had taken last from Ware. Briscoe climbed out, followed by reporters, and was declared out by NASCAR on Lap 313.
On Lap 329, Herbst’s struggling car lost power and limped down the backstretch, the driver reporting it felt like two plug wires were loose when he shifted from third gear to fourth. Moments after pulling into Garage Stall 11, 2nd-place runner Denny Hamlin slowed suddenly off Turn 2 with smoke billowing from his #11 King’s Hawaiian Toyota. Hamlin immediately pulled into the garage and to Garage Stall 10, where Herbst’s crew said “We’re not totally out of this yet.” But on Lap 360, both Herbst and Hamlin were reported out of the race, taking 36th and 35th.
Herbst missed his fifth last-place finish of the year by just 28 laps. He comes into next Sunday’s season finale at Phoenix as the leader in the 2025 LASTCAR Cup Series Championship. He can only lose the title if either A.J. Allmendinger or Josh Berry finish last while Herbst finishes outside the Bottom Five.
Completing the Bottom Five were Erik Jones, who after a spin broke the right-front suspension on his #43 Dollar Tree Toyota, forcing a hurried scramble to the garage area. Mears rounded out the group in 33rd, pulling behind the wall from pit road in the final stages, citing electrical woes.
Mike Skinner’s last-place finish at Martinsville in 1986
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #19 in a Cup Series race since August 11, 2024, when Martin Truex, Jr.’s #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota lost the engine after 250 laps around Richmond.
*Prior to Sunday, the #19 hadn’t finished last in a Cup race at Martinsville since September 21, 1986, when Mike Skinner’s #19 Zanworth Racing Team Pontiac lost oil pressure after 34 laps.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #19-Chase Briscoe / 295 laps / engine
36) #35-Riley Herbst / 323 laps / engine
35) #11-Denny Hamlin / 334 laps / engine
34) #43-Erik Jones / 406 laps / crash
33) #66-Casey Mears / 478 laps / electrical
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) 23XI Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing (4)
2nd) Kaulig Racing, Penske Racing, Wood Brothers Racing (3)
3rd) Garage 66, Joe Gibbs Racing, Legacy Motor Club, Rick Ware Racing (2)
4th) Front Row Motorsports, Hyak Motorsports, NY Racing Team, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Spire Motorsports (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (15)
2nd) Ford (11)
3rd) Toyota (8)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
