Briscoe Not Worried About Penalty; Being at JGR a Must-Win Situation
Chase Briscoe's first NASCAR Cup Series season as a driver in the Joe Gibbs Racing stable got off to a quick start in last weekend's Daytona 500. The driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE snagged the pole position, which equated to the second-ever Daytona 500 pole for Joe Gibbs Racing. After a top-five finish in Sunday's Great American Race, Briscoe was firmly inside of the top-10 of the championship standings.
However, a few days later, Briscoe's point total was heavily impacted. Briscoe's No. 19 car was one of a select few that were taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center for further inspection, and upon that additional scrutiny, it was found that there was an irregularity with the rear spoiler of his race car.
NASCAR would issue an L2-Level penalty, which would dock Briscoe and his team 100 championship driver and owner points, which dropped his point total to negative 67 points heading into the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. After a rollercoaster week, his Joe Gibbs Racing team will look to reverse the decision in the appeals process.
"It's definitely a range of emotions, right? Going from having a top-five run, I think we were eighth in points, to now obviously, negative 70 or whatever it is, so, it's definitely a big swing from that standpoint and the emotions of it," Briscoe explained on Saturday. "But yeah, I feel like we have a legitimate case here in the appeal, so, hopefully, we can win that."
Briscoe says he found out about the penalty by way of a phone call from NASCAR Cup Series Director Brad Moran, who gave him a heads up that something had been found in the R&D Center tear down, and that there would be a penalty assessed to him and his No. 19 team.
"That's how I found out. From there, I obviously talked to JGR and executives, [Crew Chief] James [Small], and everybody else. But you never want a phone call from Brad Moran is what I found out," Briscoe laughed.
While he was able to crack a joke about the situation on Saturday during a media scrum at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Briscoe detailed that his mood was quite a bit different in the immediate aftermath of the call from Moran.
"I'd be lying if I didn't say I was down in the dumps that night," Briscoe admitted. "But after that, I kind of forgot about it and just tried to move on to this week."
Attempting to battle back from a massive NASCAR penalty is nothing new for Briscoe, who was hit with an L3-Level penalty while driving for Stewart-Haas Racing in June 2023. Ultimately, Briscoe failed to win a race in 2023 and was unable to recover from the mid-season penalty as he failed to make it into the Playoff field.
Briscoe says there is a different feel this time around, though.
"It's a little bit different this. I think it was right at the beginning of June [last time]. We went from being in the Playoffs to all of a sudden having to win. It's a little bit different," Briscoe explained.
The driver now knows as he works his way through the regular season, pending his team's appeal, that he has essentially used up his ability to have any bad finishes if he hopes to advance to the Playoffs by way of his accumulation of championship points. If he finds trouble this weekend, or in upcoming events, it could put Briscoe's Playoff hopes very much into a virtual must-win situation.
That doesn't stress Briscoe out, though, as he feels he was already in a must-win situation in his first season with one of the true juggernaut teams in the NASCAR Cup Series.
"I mean, I feel like I'm in a must-win situation just starting at [Joe Gibbs Racing]," Briscoe stated. "Like, you need to be winning in JGR stuff, so, yeah, I feel like it's a must-win situation every year for me, just from a career standpoint. Yeah, I don't really feel like I can change anything from that standpoint."
Briscoe continued, "The pressure of it, like if we don't win the appeal, I already feel like there is a lot of pressure at JGR anyways. But certainly, if my back is up against the wall, I feel capable, I feel I do better almost in those situations a lot of times. Hopefully, we win the appeal, but if not, we're striving to win races."
The 30-year-old racer, who has two career wins in the NASCAR Cup Series, including a stirring win in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway a season ago, feels that his No. 19 team has come out of the box with a lot of speed in 2025. He feels as he and the team get more familiar with one another, the performance will only improve.
"It's been good. The Clash, I thought we were easily a top-five car, more than likely a top-three car. Then, go to Daytona and run in the top-five, qualify on the pole. We've had really good speed, and we really don't even know each other yet. I'm excited about what this opportunity is," Briscoe noted. "I told [wife] Marissa just last week, like in the past I've told myself I can win a Cup championship, but down deep I'm like, man, the odds are it probably isn't going to happen being where I was.
"Where now, I feel like I can legitimately go win a championship. From an equipment standpoint, expectations, and even performance in the small window I've had, really just Bowman Gray and Daytona, it's been very eye-opening just what I've been racing against. I'm super optimistic this year, and I feel really good with where we are at."
It's going to take a lot more than an L2-Level penalty in the wake of the season-opening Daytona 500 to crush the spirit of Briscoe, and the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team. Thanks to the Playoff format, Briscoe can completely flip his fortunes by winning a race, something he is ultra-confident his team is capable of doing.
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.