CONCORD, N.C. (AP) Chase Briscoe is getting the hang of winning close races.
Briscoe held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell to win his second straight NASCAR playoff race in a photo finish on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, vaulting him into contention to earn his first Cup Series championship.
The .029-second margin of victory was the second closest since CMS opened in 1960, ranking behind only Jimmie Johnsons .027-second win over Bobby Labonte in 2005.
The two drivers traded paint on the final lap, but Briscoe maintained control of his No. 19 Toyota and reached the finish line about a half-car length ahead of Bell.
I dont know what it is about these finishes. I have to quit making it so exciting at the end, said Briscoe, who had to hold off playoff points leader Kyle Larson to win last week at Las Vegas.
It was the eighth win of Briscoes career and third this season. He led 62 laps.
Briscoe said he felt like his right front tire was going down on the final laps, but was able to hold it together.
When I got beyond those final lapped cars with five or six (laps) to go, I felt like I was going to knock the wall down, Briscoe said. At one point it just quit turning.
Ryan Blaney finished third, followed by Josh Berry, Denny Hamlin and Larson.
Briscoe was 123 points behind Larson prior to last weeks win, but the back-to-back victories have cut the deficit to 65 points and put him in fourth place with four races left.
Gibbs said he was just happy his drivers didnt wreck each other.
Thats always when Im the most nervous, when a couple of our guys are running up front, Gibbs said. I know how badly all of our guys want to win. ... Thats when my blood pressure and heartbeat gets accelerated.
Hamlin is now 49 points behind Larson in the Chase, followed by Bell, who is 51 points back.
Larson called it a good, solid day and was happy to extend his playoff lead by nine points.
Hamlin cant seem to find momentum in playoffs
Hamlin won the regular season championship, but has struggled to find victory lane in the playoffs. He seemed perplexed why he hasnt been able to regain the speed he had before the postseason.
We got to execute better, be a little faster all of the above, Hamlin said. Were giving it all we got right now.
It didnt help that Hamlin was sent to the rear of the field for a loose tire penalty on pit road on his first stop.
Larson starts on the pole, dominates early
Larson, who entered the race with five top five finishes including two wins in the postseason, started on the pole based on NASCARs metric system after Saturdays qualifying was rained out.
He made the most of the pole position, dominating the race early by leading 68 of the 80 laps in the first stage to collect the maximum number of points in stage one.
Bell caught Larson and won the second stage.
Tough start for playoff contenders in first 50 laps
Several Chase contenders ran into problems in the first stage.
Ty Gibbs broke a toe link in his No. 54 Toyota causing him to hit the outside wall. Joey Logano, with nowhere to go, slammed into Gibbs from behind. Gibbs headed behind the wall for repairs and fell several laps behind, while Logano was sent to the back of the field.
And, near the end of the first stage, Alex Bowmans car got loose and ran up the track and into Bubba Wallaces car, collecting William Byron in the mix. Wallace climbed out of his car, but was taken to the infield medical center in an ambulance.
The crash sent all three cars behind the wall.
I just got loose, Bowman said. Honestly, I had been really tight. As soon as it got to the exit of the corner, it snapped and it kind of didnt stand a chance. Unfortunately, I grabbed too much wheel, overcorrected it and got in those two guys (Wallace and Byron) way. I hate that for the No. 24 and No. 23 teams. Its one thing to get loose and crash, but to ruin their days too really sucks.
NASCAR, CMS say goodbye to the roval, welcome back oval racing
After eight years, CMS and NASCAR said goodbye to the roval, changing the fall race from a road course back to the traditional 1 1/2-mile oval course. That came as NASCAR shifted away from road courses and placed more emphasis on intermediate oval tracks before the season.
Drivers seemed to be in favor of the change.
I appreciate the roval for what it was, and Ive enjoyed the handful of years that we did it to start, Chris Buescher said. Charlotte has so much character. Its put on some really good races and I think that was the big push to get us back on the oval.
Up next
The Cup Series heads to Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona next Sunday.
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北卡罗来纳州康科德（美联社）——蔡斯·布里斯科已经掌握了在势均力敌的比赛中获胜的诀窍。
周日，在夏洛特赛车场，布里斯科以微弱优势力压乔·吉布斯赛车队的队友克里斯托弗·贝尔，连续第二场赢得纳斯卡季后赛，这场胜利使他有望冲击个人首个杯系列赛总冠军。
此次夺冠的领先优势仅为0.029秒，是自1960年CMS赛道启用以来第二微弱的胜差，仅次于2005年吉米·约翰逊以0.027秒险胜博比·拉邦特的那场比赛。
两位车手在最后一圈发生了车身擦碰，但布里斯科稳住了他的19号丰田赛车，以领先贝尔约半个车身的距离冲过终点线。
“我不知道这些比赛结尾是怎么回事。我得改改这毛病，别老是把最后阶段搞得这么惊险刺激，”布里斯科说道。他在上周拉斯维加斯的比赛中，顶住了季后赛积分领先者凯尔·拉尔森的追击，最终夺得冠军。
这是布里斯科职业生涯中的第八场胜利，也是本赛季的第三场胜利。他领先了62圈。
布里斯科表示，在最后几圈时，他感觉右前胎似乎在漏气，但他还是稳住了局面。
“当还剩五六圈时，我超过那些被套圈的赛车后，感觉自己快要撞上墙了，”布里斯科说道。“有一刻，赛车突然不转弯了。”
瑞安·布莱尼获得第三名，紧随其后的是乔什·贝里、丹尼·哈姆林和拉尔森。
在上周获胜之前，布里斯科落后拉尔森123分，但连续两场胜利已将差距缩小至65分，并使他升至第四名，目前赛季还剩四场比赛。
吉布斯表示，他很庆幸自己的车手们没有相互撞毁对方的赛车。
“每当有几位队员跑在前列时，那总是我最紧张的时刻，”吉布斯说道。“我知道我们所有队员多么渴望胜利……那一刻，我的血压和心跳都会加速。”
在季后赛追逐战中，哈姆林目前落后拉森49分，紧随其后的是贝尔，他落后51分。
拉尔森称这是“美好而扎实的一天”，并对将季后赛领先优势扩大九分感到高兴。
哈姆林在季后赛中似乎难以找到势头。
哈姆林赢得了常规赛冠军，但在季后赛中却难以再登胜利之巅。他似乎感到困惑，不明白自己为何无法找回季后赛前所拥有的速度。
“我们必须执行得更好，再快一点——所有这些方面，”哈姆林说道。“我们现在已经全力以赴了。”
更糟糕的是，哈姆林在第一次进站时因轮胎松动受罚，被罚至车队末尾。
拉尔森从杆位发车，早期占据主导地位
拉尔森在进入本场比赛时，已在本赛季季后赛中取得五次前五名的成绩，其中包括两场胜利。由于周六的排位赛因雨取消，他依据纳斯卡的积分系统规则，从杆位发车。
他充分利用了杆位优势，在比赛初期便占据主导地位，第一阶段80圈中领先了68圈，从而在第一阶段获得了最高积分。
贝尔追上拉森，赢得了第二赛段的胜利。
季后赛 contenders 在最初50圈中开局艰难
几位追逐赛的 contenders 在第一阶段就遇到了麻烦。
泰·吉布斯的54号丰田赛车因转向拉杆断裂，导致他撞上外侧护墙。乔伊·洛加诺因无处避让，从后方重重撞上吉布斯。吉布斯随即驶回维修区进行修复，落后了数圈，而洛加诺则被罚至车队末尾。
在第一阶段接近尾声时，亚历克斯·鲍曼的赛车失控，冲上赛道并撞上了布巴·华莱士的赛车，连带将威廉·拜伦也卷入了事故。华莱士从车内爬出，但随后被救护车送往内场医疗中心。
这起碰撞事故将三辆汽车全部撞到了墙后。
“我只是突然打滑了，”鲍曼说道。“说实话，我之前一直开得很紧。一到弯道出口，车子就甩尾了，根本控制不住。不幸的是，我方向盘打得太猛，修正过度，结果挡了那两位（华莱士和拜伦）的路。我为24号和23号车队感到抱歉。自己打滑撞车是一回事，但还连累了他们，这真的太糟糕了。”
NASCAR与CMS告别“roval”赛道，欢迎椭圆形赛道回归
八年之后，CMS（夏洛特赛车场）与纳斯卡（NASCAR）正式告别了“罗瓦尔”赛道，将秋季赛从公路赛道改回传统的1.5英里椭圆形赛道。这一调整正值纳斯卡在赛季前逐渐减少公路赛道、更加重视中等长度椭圆形赛道之际。
司机们似乎对这一变化持赞成态度。
“我欣赏罗瓦尔赛道本来的样子，也很享受我们最初在那度过的几年时光，”克里斯·布舍尔说道。“夏洛特赛道极具特色，它曾上演过许多精彩绝伦的比赛，我认为这正是推动我们重返椭圆赛道的重要动力。”
接下来
杯赛系列赛将于下周日移师亚利桑那州埃文代尔的凤凰城赛道。
