Chase Briscoe did not simply win Sunday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He controlled it.

Briscoe swept both stages, led 175 of 267 laps and then survived one final charge from Kyle Larson to win the South Point 400, delivering one of the most complete performances of his season at a pivotal point in NASCAR’s championship Chase.

Larson finished second after taking one last shot at Briscoe on the final lap. The Hendrick Motorsports driver pushed too hard trying to close the gap, got into the wall and made contact with Tyler Reddick before gathering up the No. 5 Chevrolet and reaching the checkered flag.

Reddick held on for third, followed by Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney to complete the top five.

For Briscoe, though, there was little ambiguity about who owned Sunday night.

Chase Briscoe takes control in Las Vegas

Briscoe’s Toyota was the car to beat almost from the start.

He won Stage 1 ahead of Christopher Bell and Blaney, then backed it up by taking Stage 2 over Cindric and Bell. By the time the race reached its closing stretch, Briscoe had already piled up 20 stage points and spent most of the night at the front.

Larson made him work for the last one.

The No. 5 Chevrolet steadily cut into Briscoe’s advantage late, setting up a tense final handful of laps. Larson got close enough to make the outcome uncomfortable, but never close enough to complete the pass.

His final attempt ended with the No. 5 scraping the wall and collecting Reddick as Briscoe escaped to the checkered flag.

Briscoe’s final stat line told the story: two stage wins, 175 laps led and the race victory.

It was also a badly needed result in the Chase. Briscoe entered Las Vegas needing a big afternoon to pull himself back into the championship conversation. He left with about as many points as one driver could reasonably collect in a single race.

Kyle Larson extends Chase lead as Denny Hamlin stumbles

Larson may have come up one position short of the victory, but Las Vegas still turned into a major night for his championship hopes.

While Larson spent the closing laps fighting Briscoe for the win, Denny Hamlin endured a much different race. Hamlin led 39 laps but faded well outside the top 10 late, a costly result while his closest championship rival was fighting at the front.

Larson leaves Las Vegas with a 40-point advantage over Hamlin in the Chase standings. That makes Sunday significant beyond Briscoe’s win.

The Chase has reached its halfway point, and what had been shaping up as a Larson-Hamlin fight suddenly has another driver forcing his way back into the picture.

Briscoe did not sneak out of Las Vegas with a strategy win or capitalize on late chaos. He had the best car, swept the stages and finished the job.

Five races remain.

And after Las Vegas, the championship picture looks considerably different than it did when the green flag dropped.

Full Race Results At Las Vegas Motor Speedway

1. Chase Briscoe
2. Kyle Larson
3. Tyler Reddick
4. Austin Cindric
5. Ryan Blaney
6. William Byron
7. Chase Elliott
8. Bubba Wallace
9. Shane van Gisbergen
10. Joey Logano
11. Alex Bowman
12. Carson Hocevar
13. Chris Buescher
14. Daniel Suarez
15. AJ Allmendinger
16. Denny Hamlin
17. Ty Gibbs
18. Riley Herbst
19. Austin Dillon
20. Noah Gragson
21. Michael McDowell
22. Austin Hill
23. Christopher Bell
24. Brad Keselowski
25. Erik Jones
26. Josh Berry
27. Cole Custer
28. Ryan Preece
29. John Hunter Nemechek
30. Ross Chastain
31. Ty Dillon
32. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
33. Todd Gilliland
34. Cody Ware
35. Connor Zilisch
36. Zane Smith