by Patrick Zier | Oct 10, 2026 |
You sometimes get the impression that Chase Briscoe feels the need to prove he truly belongs at Joe Gibbs Racing. Briscoe, who somewhat surprisingly is starting to emerge as Toyota’s best bet to win a championship, came over to JGR last year after the collapse of Stewart-Haas.
And immediately, he understood he had to change his mindset. As Stewart-Haas crumbled, there were no expectations to win, only worries about where you were going to wind up when the end finally came. Because of that, for a number of years prior to its shutdown S-H had not been competitive. If you were a driver, you got as much out of the car as you could knowing the best you could hope for was a mediocre finish.
Not so at JGR. Everyone there goes into each race confident any of its cars can win every time out. That put pressure on Briscoe to perform at the same level, to prove he belonged. He had to get used to cars capable of doing anything he wanted them to do, of being competitive in any race.
In his first year with JGR and using the Old Guy Sport competition index to measure his performance against both the other three JGR cars and the rest of the field, Briscoe outran every Toyota on the track except his JGR teammate, Denny Hamlin, and Chevy’s Kyle Larson. The OGS competition index is used because it is a better indication of competitiveness than the NASCAR point system, which rewards finishing races, not competing in them.
While he has slipped a bit this year; Hamlin, Larson and JGR teammate Christopher Bell are currently ahead of him in the OGS standings as the season nears its end, he is still running well. And as the other Toyotas have faltered in their chase for the championship, it is Briscoe who has picked up the flag.
Last week’s race at Las Vegas is a perfect example. Hamlin, who has struggled some of late, spun out all by himself coming out of a corner and damaged his front splitter, effectively taking him out of contention. Bell lost his power steering, and couldn’t overcome that. And Ty Gibbs, the fourth JGR entry, was penalized for speeding on pit road.
Briscoe dominated the race and held off the red-hot Larson to get the win. This after a fourth place finish at Kansas, a race he felt he should have won. Again, using the OGS competition index as a guide, Briscoe has scored 94 points in the last two events, far more than any other Toyota (Hamlin is next with 37) and more than anybody but Larson, who continues to play King Kong against the field. Larson had 115 points.
But talking about the win, Briscoe’s insecurity appeared to come through. “I put pressure on myself after last week (Kansas),” he said according to NASCAR.com’s website. “You don’t want your guys to lose confidence in you. I felt like after last week; I drove to the lead and you lose the race with six to go.
“I don’t really feel like I made a mistake per se last week,” he continued. “I mean, I was just really loose, and I could have done a better job of defending Larson, but still, you don’t want it to be two weeks in a row where you lose a race in the last five to 10 laps. I just feel like your confidence from the team guys, in their driver, can go away really quickly.”
This is in sharp contrast to someone like Hamlin, who definitely feels he has a different rapport with his team and considers mistakes, both by the driver and the team, to simply be part of racing. “Just trying to get back the track position we lost and got up in the marbles (little balls of rubber that come off the tires as they wear) and spun out,” Hamlin told NBCsports.com.
“There’s nothing you can do now postrace,” Hamlin added. “Just got to go on to the next race and see if we can find a way to win. Charlotte (on deck Sunday) should be good for us but today certainly didn’t live up to what we expected.”
Like Hamlin, Bell just kind of shrugged off the power steering issue even though it impacted him more because he’s still recovering from a broken wrist suffered at Michigan in June. “My wrist is fine,” he said, again according to NBCsports.com. “My hands are a little bit shaky and tingly but I’m going to be okay.
“Disappointing not to be able to capitalize on a day like today when other guys had issues. It looked like an opportunity to make up some points and it didn’t happen. Just going to go out there and race. We’ve got five more (races) left and I’m going to try and win a couple.”
But Bell didn’t see the need for his crew to explain what went wrong and hasn’t lost any confidence in them because the power steering went out. It’s on to the next race. And as time goes by, Briscoe will settle in at JGR. He’s in a position he’s never been in before, but he can handle it. Gibbs wouldn’t have hired him if he couldn’t.
NASCAR NOTES
Three most likely winners at Charlotte: 1-Kyle Larson, 2-Denny Hamlin, 3-Christopher Bell. Last year’s winner at Charlotte: Not applicable, last year’s race at Charlotte was run on the road course. This year, it is on the oval.
Top five at Charlotte last year: Again, not applicable.
Last week’s Old Guy Sport Las Vegas picks: 1-Hamlin, 2-Larson, 3-Bell. Las Vegas winner: Chase Briscoe. OGS season record: 13-13.
OGS competition index top 10 after 26 races: 1-Hamlin 611 points, 2-Larson 526, 3-Bell 467, 4-Briscoe 415, 5-Tyler Reddick 413, 6-Ty Gibbs 354, 7-Ryan Blaney 342, 8-Joey Logano 308, 9-Shane van Gisbergen 226, 10-Chase Elliott 192.
OGS competition index top 10 on intermediate tracks (Tracks most like Charlotte): 1-Hamlin 465 points, 2-Larson 328, 3-Reddick 301, 4-Bell 268, 5-Briscoe 250, 6-Elliott 120, 7-William Byron 119, 8-Blaney 81, 9-Alex Bowman 80, 10-Austin Cindric 79.
by Patrick Zier | Oct 4, 2026 |
It you play with fire often enough, you will get burned. And South Florida, which has been playing with fire ever since the Army game, got burned badly Saturday when it lost to Temple. Once again, the direction this team is headed, at least for the short term, is in question.
Over the past few years, South Florida has been steadily upgrading its entire athletic program, the purpose of which was to eventually attract attention from a Power 4 conference, to prove it was ready to compete at the highest level.
Central to that goal was building a winning football team, establishing itself as a premier Group of 6 competitor able to win on the big stage. Bringing in highly respected Ohio State assistant Brian Hartline was thought to be the final piece of the puzzle, putting someone in charge who could take USF where it wants to go.
That may still happen, but with the loss to Temple, the road forward is suddenly much more difficult. There were early warning signs, but they were mostly ignored as the Bulls raced out to a 4-0 start. Hartline’s transfer portal class was considered by many the best in the Group of 6. The eventual winner of the team’s quarterback competition, Michael Van Buren, had started games in the SEC. Hartline did not discourage talk that this team should contend for an American Conference championship.
Still…While the Bulls were 4-0 before the loss to Temple, nothing except a 59-17 pasting of Delaware State, an outmanned FCS school which is a step below the Group of 6 in the NCAA’s football hierarchy, came easy. They beat FIU by 10 pts, but only led 6-3 going into the fourth quarter. They had their best effort against Army, winning 28-24 after trailing by 10 with just 4:59 to play. They beat Bowling Green 14-6 but had to score twice in the fourth quarter to do it. Then came Temple, and an unexpected 17-13 loss.
If there is one common thread that runs through the last couple games, it is that South Florida has not improved since taking down Army. That win presented USF with an “opportunity,” as they now say, to better itself, to start living up to what it was expected to become.
But it hasn’t, and making things even more difficult, USF is about to face the toughest teams on its schedule starting Thursday, when it travels to UTSA. UTSA had a difficult time with Rice Saturday, but it is 25-1 at home since 2020 and 4-1 this year with only a 30-6 loss to No. 1 Texas marring its record.
Hartline, though, will not panic. His demeanor after the Temple game was exactly the same as his demeanor after beating Army. He takes things as they come. But if he is to make this season the success he wants and thinks it can be, things have to change quickly. Because right now, the Bulls look more like a pretender then a contender.
Best case scenario? Hartline and his staff figure things out and USF wins nine or 10 games. Worst case? Well, if they don’t improve, every team they have left to play is good enough to beat them.
“What needs to happen? I can’t say we have to practice better because we had a pretty good week of practice before we played Temple,” Hartline commented after the game according to USF’s football website. “So, I think we’re doing a poor job of taking practice to game day.
“Like, you know, alignment issues. Like just not being on the ball or not covering guys up. We are dropping a lot of footballs,” Hartline continued. “I feel like the protection was pretty darn good. The O-line stepped up in a good way. I think that, you know, maybe we were getting out of the pocket a little too quick at times. The running game was not as explosive.
“I think the routine plays need to be routine, like when we throw and catch,” Hartline said. “There were missed targeted throws, but when you have those drops, those negative plays, I think we have to do a better job of putting guys in position to execute better.
“Everything’s under review,” Hartline went on. “But again, the guys’ work ethic, the way they practice, has gotten better each week and I have to rely on that. I’m a big believer in that. The issues are there and they’re finally starting to kick us in the butt, no doubt about that,” Hartline added. “We are definitely our own worst enemy on the field. We gotta grow up quick.”
Much of this seems to be a lack of focus, mental errors that can cost you regardless of who you’re playing. But with UTSA next up and a brutal November schedule that includes East Carolina, Memphis, Florida Atlantic and Tulane in succession, the Bulls have to get his cleaned up – now.
This team has a lot of potential, but as the late, great Atlanta Falcon center Jeff Van Note, an 11th round draft pick in 1969 who ended up making six Pro Bowls, once said: “Po-tential. That just means you ain’t done nothin’ yet.”
by Patrick Zier | Oct 2, 2026 |
The Toyotas have hit the wall. Hitting the wall in not a good thing anytime you’re running a race, but it’s especially bad this time of year when you’re chasing a NASCAR championship. Toyota, which once loomed above NASCAR like the Jolly Green Giant, appears to have finally been cut down to size by the competition.
Well, maybe we better rephrase that, because if you’re talking about Chevy and Ford, they’re kind of chasing Toyota with baby steps. But if you’re talking about Kyle Larson, that’s an entirely different matter. Because in the playoffs, Larson has become a one man wrecking crew, stomping on Toyota, Ford and even his Rick Hendrick teammates indiscriminately.
Larson’s sudden dominance hasn’t come out of nowhere. From the beginning of the season, when the Toyotas roared off and left everybody choking on their exhaust, Larson and Ford’s Ryan Blaney were doing what they could to keep pace. For Larson, it was a fourth here, a fifth there, a third on the road course at San Diego. Plus -and this is prophetic – a second in the first race at Kansas.
Still, like all the Chevys, Larson was struggling with the car’s redesigned body. And Ford? Well, Ford was just struggling, period. It was apparent, though, that compared to the other Chevys, Larson was struggling less, was closer to figuring things out and getting competitive.
But when the chase started, everyone expected Toyota’s superiority to continue. There was no light at the end of the tunnel until all of a sudden, here came Larson. He opened with a fifth at Darlington. Next, he won for the first time this season at St. Louis, an intermediate track. Then came a second at Bristol and, last Sunday, another win, this time at Kansas.
Winning at St. Louis and Kansas is particularly significant because the Toyotas had owned the intermediate tracks. Going into the first chase race at Darlington, Toyotas had won nine of the 11 intermediate track races to that point.
So now, with six races left to go in the season, Larson isn’t chasing the Toyotas, the Toyotas are chasing Larson. It’s a complete turnround. And if you look at the Old Guy Sport competition index, which is the best measure for judging competitiveness, Larson is in a class by himself.
In the four chase races, Larson has scored a whopping 203 points. For comparison purposes, that’s more than all four Joe Gibbs racing entries, which include season front-runner Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell, put together. Combined, they have 200 points. It’s also more than the four Penske entries (the Wood brothers car, which is essentially built by Penske, is included in this), who have 190 points combined. Larson is also the only driver to have finished in the top five in all four chase races.
And the three other Hendrick cars? Where are they? Well, you really have to search to find them, which proves this is not a Chevy thing and really all about Larson. In the four chase races so far, Alex Bowman has 40 points, William Byron 20 and Chase Elliott comes in with a big fat zero.
It may have been a long time coming, but clearly, Larson is back, even if Chevy isn’t. “It just seems like we were building and ready to kind of capitalize if we got a moment like this where our car and everything kind of came together.” Larson commented after the win at Kansas according to NASCAR’s website. “So just proud of everybody for working so hard for so long now, and then proud of just the execution that they’ve put in here these first four chase) races. We just got to try and keep it up,” Larson added.
Because the NASCAR point system rewards finishing more than racing and because it is designed to keep as many cars as possible in contention for as long as possible, Hamlin is still very much alive in the title chase, only 26 points behind Larson. That deficit could be wiped out in Sunday’s race at Las Vegas, another intermediate track. By the way, Hamlin still leads the OGS competition index with 604 points to Larson’s 486.
Larson knows it isn’t over. “There’s still six races left, and I only have, I think, a 26 point lead on Denny (in the NASCAR standings),” he said. “That could be swallowed up in a hurry. I gained 70 – I scored 76 points today (Sunday). So Denny could go have a max points day next week and I could blow an engine…and I’m down 70-some points right there.”
Still, considering where he was, the fact that Larson is now the man is surprising if not shocking. “Nobody wants to go through the struggle, but the struggle can be so constructive, if you let it be, if you lean in the right way,” Cliff Daniels, Larson’s crew chief, commented, also on NASCAR’s website.
“We have a great company with a lot of great people on the shop floor that are in the teams, engine shop, car shop, leadership,” Daniels said. “Everybody kind of had to check up. ‘Okay, we’re not where we need to be, so let’s not play the blame game. Let’s look within. How do we elevate our process? Our setups?’ Just digging into all the things you have to do,” Daniels said.
And guess what. There is light at the end of the tunnel after all.
NASCAR NOTES
Three most likely winners at Las Vegas Sunday: 1-Denny Hamlin, 2-Kyle Larson, 3-Christopher Bell. Last year’s winner at Las Vegas (second race): Hamlin. Top five in second race last year: 1-Hamlin, 2-Larson, 3-Bell, 4-Chase Briscoe, 5-Tyler Reddick.
Last week’s Old Guy Sport Kansas picks: 1-Hamlin, 2-Reddick, 3-Bell. Kansas winner: Larson. OGS season record: 13-12.
OGS competition index top 10 after 25 races: 1-Hamlin 604 points, 2-Larson 486, 3-Bell 465, 4-Reddick 383, 5-Ty Gibbs 354, 6-Briscoe 340, 7-Ryan Blaney 330, 8-Joey Logano 308, 9-Shane van Gisbergen 226, 10-Chase Elliott 192.
OGS competition index top 10 on intermediate tracks (tracks most like Las Vegas): 1-Hamlin 458 points, 2-Larson 288, 3-Reddick 271, 4-Bell 266, 5-Briscoe 175, 6-Elliott 120, 7-William Byron 119, 8-Alex Bowman 80, 9-Corey Heim 78, 10-Logano 73.
