Motivated Briscoe Hopes To Lead SHR Out With A Title

Chase Briscoe (HHP/Jacy Norgaard photo)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In his four full-time seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series, Chase Briscoe has experienced both the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

He’s been a Cup Series race winner, he’s been 30th in points, and he’s been everywhere in between, including in dogfight playoff cut line battles.

It’s almost fair to say Briscoe is in the slim category of full-time Cup Series drivers that can say “they’ve seen it all,” despite his rookie season being in 2021.

To take it a step further, he was thrust into the spotlight this year, becoming the “face” of Stewart-Haas Racing after the retirement of 2014 Cup Series champion and 60-time winner Kevin Harvick at the end of last season.

Add in the fact that the announcement came in May that the company would scale down to just one full-time car next year as the rebranded Haas Factory Team, and Briscoe found himself job-searching – and eventually on the move to Joe Gibbs Racing, where he’ll take over for Martin Truex Jr. after the 2017 champion retires from full-time racing at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway in November.

With all those storylines looming, and the world outside of his No. 14 car turning, Briscoe found his back against the wall last weekend at Darlington (S.C) Raceway. Being 20th in points, he needed to win, and he did so by leading 29 laps to walk off the regular season finale with a victory.

After an arguably nightmare of a season, where multiple attempts at victory lane fell short, the Mitchell, Ind., native dug deep to put himself back in the postseason for the second time in three years.

That led to a furor of momentum and morale inside Stewart-Haas Racing, which hopes to earn its third Cup Series title in its final season of operation under its current form.

“It’s been really cool, just the dynamic at the shop. If a Stewart-Haas Racing car didn’t win Sunday night, Tuesday morning when everybody came in after Labor Day, it would have probably been the gloomiest, darkest shop in the entire industry,” Briscoe admitted during NASCAR Playoff Media Day Wednesday. “Now we’re probably the most electric, fired-up shop, at least the most fired-up I've ever seen Stewart-Haas.

“Everybody’s got a pep in their step. Everybody is excited and if we didn’t win, it would have been hard realistically to get cars to the racetrack these final 10 weeks. Things probably would have been getting shut off,” he added. “For us to be able to win that race was pretty dang cool, just from the standpoint of what it means for Stewart-Haas Racing, so I’m definitely excited.”

The 29-year-old feels the new persuasive hope can lead to a run at the Cup Series title at Phoenix. His win has created a breath of fresh air and new life to the team’s approach entering the final 10 weeks.

Chase Briscoe hopes to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series title this year. (HHP/David Graham photo)

“I think internally everybody believes it,” said Briscoe when asked if SHR can win a championship on its way out of the sport. “We saw Tony Stewart do it in 2011, and we’re kind of going with that same mindset. If we can win the Southern 500, why can’t we win more?”

That same thought Briscoe gave in his media availability opens up a potential new reality. With the parity in the Round of 16, he could easily find himself with a cushion entering the second round.

Just two years ago, Briscoe finished ninth in the standings, after being in an intense cut line battle at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway ROVAL during the round of 12. He’s no stranger to the postseason, and with momentum on his side after qualifying 10th for Sunday’s Atlanta race, the No. 14 could be a dangerous contender to overlook.

Briscoe compared his situation to one specific college team in this year’s NCAA March Madness basketball tournament.

“When you look at the makeup of Stewart-Haas Racing, a lot of it stems from Tony Stewart and the mental toughness and things that Tony has been able to do. I kind of relate it to NC State this past year in March Madness,” explained Briscoe.

“They go from not even having a prayer of making the Tournament, to winning the ACC Tournament and going all the way to the Final Four. I feel like we certainly could relate to that. When you have momentum and confidence, it just goes such a long way … and I don’t see what team right now in this sport would have more momentum or confidence than we do.

“It’s just a different feel for the playoffs than I’ve ever had. The last time I was here, we won the third race of the year, and we had all year long to think about the playoffs. Now, it’s just totally different.”

Here’s the road map for Briscoe to potentially get to Phoenix. Ford has been strong in superspeedway racing in the Next-Gen era, setting him up for a successful Atlanta weekend.

At Watkins Glen next week, Briscoe is an above-average road racer, and although Bristol is a bullring as the round one cut off, he was 13th in the spring race. That kind of average would likely put him into the second round.

In his Cup Series career, Briscoe has struggled at Kansas Speedway, but when he was last there as a part of the playoff field in 2022 he finished 13th. Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway has been kind to Briscoe in particular, as he looks for his fifth consecutive top 15 in Alabama. And while he was ninth at the ROVAL in his last playoff appearance, Briscoe is a past winner there in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

From there, in the Round of 8 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Briscoe has five consecutive top 10s, with an average finish of 12th. It’s his second-best track average on the Cup Series circuit. To make things better, he won Phoenix in March of 2022, and recently finished ninth in the spring race this year.

The results for Briscoe are out there in order to get to Phoenix. He just has to find all the right pieces and put them together.

“I’m excited and really feel like if we can get to Phoenix, we can get it done there,” he said. “We’ve already proven it once.”

The playoff-opening Quaker State 400 available at Walmart is slated for Sunday, Sept. 8 at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway. Broadcast coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET, live on USA, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.