Chase Briscoe Sees Advantages with 'Underdog' Situation Heading into Playoffs

Toby Christie | Sep 6, 2024

Sep 4, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Chase Briscoe speaks to media members during the NASCAR Playoffs Media Day at the Charlotte Convention Center. / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Cinderella stories are always fun in sports. Who doesn't love when a 16-seed goes on a big-time run through the March Madness tournament? After securing his spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with a clutch win at Darlington Raceway last weekend, Chase Briscoe, who loves to be labeled an underdog and feels he shines brightest in high-pressure situations, could very well be the Cinderella story of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Not only did Briscoe, 29, snag the championship-hopes-preserving win at the 11th hour last week, but he drives the No. 14 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series championship-winning team which has suffered from a rough few seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series. SHR will close its doors at the end of the season.

While you wouldn't think that a driver who advanced to the Playoffs by way of a cutoff race win, and drives for a team that will be shuttering at season's end would be capable of making a long sustained Playoff run, the native of Mitchell, Indiana feels all of the aforementioned factors make him and his race team a thorn in the side for the expected Championship 4 contenders.

“If anything, I think that’s what makes us even more scary, truthfully," Briscoe explained at Wednesday's NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Media Day. "We all have a chip on our shoulder to prove to the world that we can do it and there’s a lot of guys that still don’t have a job going into next year. They are trying to prove to another team that they can bring race-winning race cars and championship-winning race cars, so it doesn’t scare me. I know that Stewart-Haas is gonna give me everything I need. I know Ford is gonna give me everything I need, so it doesn’t scare me at all that we’re shutting down at the end of the year. If anything, as crazy as it sounds, I feel like it gives us a little bit of an advantage because no other team can relate to what we’re going through and that kind of makes us different.”

Briscoe, who will move to the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team in 2025 as the successor to 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. who will retire from full-time competition at season's end, makes a phenomenal point. For everyone within the walls of Stewart-Haas Racing, who are facing uncertain futures, their path to securing a top-tier job for next season is by the No. 14 team going on a magical Playoff run.

But can they truly compete toe-to-toe with Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and the other current powerhouse teams in the NASCAR Cup Series? I mean, they did last weekend at Darlington Raceway, a track not known for fluke race winners.

Another thing Briscoe and his team have going for them is that he is the only one of the four Stewart-Haas Racing drivers that locked into the Playoffs. I know, I know, it sounds backwards. You would think Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing having all four of their cars in the Playoffs and Team Penske having all three of its cars as well as its satellite team Wood Brothers Racing in by way of Harrison Burton's unexpected win at Daytona, would signal that those teams are better prepared speed-wise to compete for a championship.

Undoubtedly, they are on paper. But within the confines of an elimination round Playoff format, like the one used in the NASCAR Cup Series since the 2014 season, the championship race is a dog-eat-dog, every driver for themselves situation. Do you think Kyle Larson will be cutting Chase Elliott a break if they're battling for position late in a race during the Round of 16? Absolutely not. They're teammates, but each driver will be doing everything they can to make sure they advance to the next round, even if it comes at the expense of their teammates.

Briscoe, on the other hand, will have three teammates with no skin in the championship game, personally, other than to assist Briscoe's bid for the championship. It also gives Briscoe, and the No. 14 team, the benefit of being the car that receives the most attention in the Stewart-Haas Racing shop heading into the Playoff events.

“I definitely think that part of it is an advantage," Briscoe admitted. "The Hendricks of the world, the Gibbs, the Penskes, they’re trying to figure out how to make four cars the best they can go every week, and then on the racetrack, all four of those guys are gonna be fighting each other for points, where I have three teammates out there that can make it really hard to pass them for the other guys and when I get to them they can make it a little bit easier."

Additionally, Briscoe feels there are additional advantages to being the lone driver from a team in the Playoff field, which will help him and his crew chief Richard Boswell if they have trouble adjusting their car setup during the race weekend, as well as finding additional data for setups in future Playoff events.

"A perfect example is the [No.] 10 car these next three weeks is gonna go literally identical [to our car]," Briscoe detailed. "Every single piece, part, setup, everything is gonna go identical to how we go, just so they can try stuff in practice and see if we can learn anything. Those other teams that have four cars, they’re not gonna be doing that. They’re gonna be doing everything they can to do for themselves so that definitely makes it a little bit different for us.”

While this Playoff run will only mark the second of Briscoe's NASCAR Cup Series career, the driver made it to the Round of 8, and nearly advanced to the Championship 4 in his only other Playoff appearance in 2022. That sustained Playoff run, and the lessons learned from it, has heaped extra confidence into Briscoe's mind heading into the Round of 16.

“I think so. I feel like we weren’t near the race team then that we are now, and we were able to truthfully be like six laps away from making the Championship 4. I know for a fact that I’m a way better race car driver than I was then," Briscoe explained. "From a team standpoint, momentum standpoint, everything, we’re totally different than we were then and we were able to make a deep run. If we just do what we are capable of doing as a team, we can do it. It’s just a matter of doing it consistently. That’s been our biggest hiccup really for the last two or three years is we have flashes of really good speed and running up front and we just haven’t been able to do it week in and week out, but all we have to do is do it for 10 weeks and we can be a NASCAR Cup Series champion. Hopefully, we can put 10 weeks together.”

If Briscoe and Stewart-Haas Racing can put together a perfect 10-week stretch, the Stewart-Haas Racing team will have a rightful sendoff, and Briscoe, who was a fan of Tony Stewart and the Stewart-Haas Racing team growing up, will be able to check off a few childhood dreams. Winning a NASCAR Cup Series championship, and of course, doing it for a team owned by his racing hero.

Published Sep 6, 2024

TOBY CHRISTIE