TRENDING Fantasy Basketball Sign Up College football live updates A.J. Brown coming off IR ALCS Game 4 postponed Defense will win WNBA Finals Story by Story by Dave Alpern Reveals JGR’s Biggest Challenge in Chasing Kyle Larson Andrew Ravens Sat, October 17, 2026 at 11:25 PM UTC · 2 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Joe Gibbs Racing has three drivers in the top four chasing Kyle Larson for the NASCAR Cup Series title. Team president Dave Alpern said that brings its own problem.
Denny Hamlin , Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe sit second, third and fourth in the Chase standings. Hamlin is 49 points behind Larson, Bell is 51 back and Briscoe is 65 back.
Alpern talked about the title fight on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. SiriusXM NASCAR shared the clip on X .
He said the hard part is that the three drivers are also racing one another.
"But yeah. With the points, I think the hard part is you're trying to catch the five, but you got three teammates that are all taking points from each other by racing for stage wins and racing for the championship. But look. I think that's the way it's supposed to be."
Charlotte showed what that looks like. Briscoe beat Bell to the line by 0.029 seconds on Oct. 11. Bell led 93 laps and won Stage 2.
Briscoe also won the week before at Las Vegas. MotorBiscuit covered the photo finish at Charlotte .
Alpern said each driver races for his own team on Sundays.
"We got 36 cars out there every week. Four of them belong to us. And even though we're one team six days a week, on Sunday, you're racing for that door number. You're racing for that sponsor that invests in you, and that individual crew and those fans."
He said that makes the final stretch harder on everyone at the team.
"And so I do think it makes it more complicated. I think it makes it way more nerve-wracking. But again, this is what we raced all year for."
Alpern said a team with only one contender can put all of its effort into that car. He noted that JGR is not in that position.
JGR's fourth driver, Ty Gibbs , is also in the Chase. He is ninth, 156 points back. He won at Bristol in April and at Iowa in August. Alpern said Gibbs' season is part of what the team set out to do.
"This is what we set out to do at the beginning of the year: to get as many cars in contention to win. And Ty's had an unbelievable year, and it's been exciting with him having a couple of wins."
JGR has been in a similar spot before. In 2019, Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. all reached the Championship 4 at Homestead. Busch won the title.
Larson won at Gateway and Kansas and has finished sixth or better in every Chase race. At Charlotte, he took the blame for contact with Hamlin and still added nine points to his lead.
Source: Sports
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