​Rewriting the piece:
In Joliet, Illinois, the spotlight on Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick—and their NASCAR Cup Series victories for Toyota—has often overshadowed Chase Briscoe. Not anymore. After moving from a runner-up finish at the Sonoma Raceway road course in California to a win at Chicagoland Speedway on July 5, Briscoe celebrated his first victory of the season in a popular weekend for the team. “We haven’t been as consistent as [Hamlin and Reddick],” said Briscoe, who has three wins this season and finished third in the 2025 standings. “But from a speed standpoint, I feel like we’ve been right there with them.” At 31 years old, Briscoe held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell—also seeking his first win of the season—by 0.276 seconds. Hamlin finished third, giving team owner Joe Gibbs the top three spots as Toyota captured seven of the top ten.
Toyota has won 12 of the first 19 races, led by Reddick with five victories and Hamlin with four. “It was definitely more frustrating than ever not to win, especially knowing our cars are really fast,” Briscoe said after earning his first win since his three-race run in 2025. He had gone 20 races without a trip to victory lane. “There were a couple that slipped away this year, and when your teammates are winning, it’s tougher as a competitor because you know they have the same opportunities and they’re performing better. There’s a lot of pressure to perform well. It ebbs and flows—next year the Toyotas could be far off and the Chevys and Fords could be unbelievable. When you’re good, you have to take advantage.”
William Byron, who won the first two stages, finished fourth after leading a race-high 94 of the 267 laps. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman was fifth. Chicagoland’s 1.5-mile oval hosted 19 Cup races from 2001 to 2019 before closing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Road America, a Wisconsin road course about 180 miles north, took its place on the schedule for two seasons post-pandemic, followed by NASCAR’s return to the streets of downtown Chicago for three years before resuming on the oval. The 2027 schedule has not yet been announced, but Gibbs can’t imagine not returning to Chicagoland. “This region is huge for our sport,” he said. “From everyone’s perspective, the decision to come back mattered a lot, and everyone recognizes that. And the street race is a topic here, too. We’ll see what happens. That’s not in my hands. Who knows? We may do both.”
Notes: The 47,000-seat grandstand sold out, but not all seats were filled by the green flag. Rain in the days leading up to the event disrupted parking lots and created long traffic backups on approach roads.