Didn't Want To Just Slow Down"- Chase Briscoe Breaks Silence on Denny Hamlin's Frustration Over Chevy Drafting Alliance Chase Briscoe Breaks Silence on Denny Hamlin's Frustration Over Chevy Drafting Alliance

Chase Briscoe said he refused to start Stage 1 at the “last car on the bottom” after pole at Talladega’s YellaWood 500, explaining that doing so would have forced him to slow down and get stuck behind Denny Hamlin’s Toyota line. Briscoe pointed to the moment coming off a green-flag pit stop, when Hamlin was at the tail end and the Chevrolets carried momentum in the outside lane. As the fuel-saving run reshaped the field, Briscoe joined Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs—then moved with the Chevrolet group, leaving Hamlin without partners and triggering immediate frustration on the radio directed at Briscoe. RFK Racing’s trio of Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski abandoned fuel saving, building a 40-second gap en route to a stage sweep except for Briscoe, who finished seventh and Hamlin 17th.