Briscoe keeping SHR's title hopes alive after impressive comeback at Watkins Glen

MotorSport

With the end of Stewart-Haas Racing drawing near, no one expected the four-car team to have a car in the playoff fight. And then Chase Briscoe pulled off an impressive upset in the regular season finale, winning the coveted Southern 500. It completely changed the outlook within the organization and for its 320+ employees who face an uncertain future.

“One of my guys said it best the other day, ‘If we didn’t win that race, everybody was already counting down the days to the end of the season.’ Now, they’re so excited and we’re just counting down the days to the next race. It’s changed the entire atmosphere at the shop, the morale, people are excited again, and that’s something that as a company we hadn’t had in a couple of years, so it’s pretty cool to be the guy who gets to bring that to the shop,” said Briscoe in the weekly team advance.

Race winner Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Mustang

Photo by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images

The SHR driver was not a favorite entering the playoffs, but he “knew we could win” — even before Darlington. It seemed like his title shot was going to be over rather quickly after crashing in the playoff opener and finishing last, scoring only one point at Atlanta. But once again, Briscoe and the No. 14 Ford showed they are not to be underestimated. He came back stronger than ever at Watkins Glen, collecting 12 stage points and finishing higher than any other playoff driver with a sixth-place result. In fact, he managed to stay clear of all the trouble that ensued on track last Sunday, crossing the finish line as the only playoff driver inside the top ten.

He had entered Watkins Glen at the very bottom of the standings, 21 points out and facing a difficult climb. But in one race, he jumped five drivers including the likes of Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin. That showing pushed him back above the cut-line, six points up entering Bristol. Now, the Darlington winner is taking that confidence to Bristol as he seeks to advance into the Round of 12.

“The confidence that comes along with that, knowing if we can win the Southern 500, then why can’t we win this week at Bristol? I definitely feel like our team as a whole has way more confidence. We kind of walk with more swagger. We just feel better about it. And to do it the way we did it, beating Kyle Larson, beating Kyle Busch, it’s not like we lucked into a win. We literally ran top-three from mile one to mile 500. Just all that kind of combines itself into having a lot of confidence, and I certainly feel like we have that right now.”

“There’s a different feeling in the air” at Bristol

With swagger and confidence they march onward, looking to beat the odds yet again and give SHR a storybook ending. Four drivers will be cut from the title fight this weekend at the iconic short track, and like Watkins Glen, avoiding the chaos will be key.

“Going into Bristol, it’s an elimination race — and really, any elimination race, whether it’s Bristol or another round, or for us like it was at Darlington — you just know that you have to do everything perfectly,” said Briscoe. “You can’t have any big mishaps, you can’t have a bad night on pit road, and you can’t make a big mistake on the racetrack.

“At the end of the day, you’re probably not going to win every elimination race, even if you do everything perfectly. But if you do everything perfectly that night, you can go to bed and hang your hat on the fact that you did everything you could and the points just weren’t enough. I think that’s the biggest thing going into an elimination race — not eliminating yourself and just putting together the most solid night you can from start to finish.”

Corey LaJoie, Spire Motorsports, NEGU Chevrolet Camaro, Harrison Burton, Wood Brothers Racing, Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford Mustang, Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang, Ty Dillon, Spire Motorsports, Gainbridge Chevrolet Camaro, Ryan Newman, Rick Ware Racing, Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford Mustang, Justin Haley, Kaulig Racing, Mountain Dew Chevrolet Camaro, JJ Yeley, Rick Ware Racing, Steakhouse Elite Burgers Ford Mustang, Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Rush Truck Centers / Cummins Ford Mustang, Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang

Photo by: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images

Bristol Motor Speedway never lacks for drama, but the tension only intensifies in the cutoff race under the lights on a Saturday night.

“…There’s a different feeling in the air, a different intensity, and that’s what makes the Bristol Night Race even cooler,” added Briscoe. He’s never won a Cup race at BMS, but he has finished every race he’s run there, which is its own accomplishment. Briscoe has completed 1,991 of 2,000 possible laps at the action-packed half-mile in the Cup Series. Victory Lane at Bristol isn’t exactly unfamiliar to him either, having won there in the Xfinity Series during the 2020 season. Despite that, he’s not about underestimate the volatile short track.

“I feel like Bristol is one of those places you never really feel like you have it conquered, by any means,” he cautioned.”I’ve been able to have speed there in the past. The Xfinity car and the Cup car definitely race totally differently around Bristol. But I feel like I’ve always had speed at Bristol, I just haven’t been able to put the whole race together, especially on the Cup side. I definitely have struggled to get a good finish there even when we’ve had speed. Physically, it’s probably the most demanding race of the year. But I feel like it’s one of my more favorite racetracks that we go to. I always look forward to going there and having a lot of fun when I’m there. I just need to obviously find that little bit more. I feel like I understand it 90 percent, I just have to find that other 10 percent.”

Watch: Briscoe basks in crown-jewel victory after claiming Southern 500, playoff berth

Nothing to lose and everything to gain

Briscoe has an X factor in that this is it for the team. Furniture Row Racing nearly won the Cup title in their last year and GMS Racing came agonizingly close in the battle for the Truck Series title in 2023 before closing their doors. It’s not unheard for a race team to perform at their best as the clock is about to strike midnight.

“No other team can compare to what we’re going through, and no other team has the emotions that we do, so I think that’s what makes us so scary,” declared Briscoe. “We have a lot on our shoulders and there’s a lot of pride that comes along with that. We’re just a unique race team right now. And every other team in the playoffs, they’re trying to figure out how to make four cars fast in the playoffs. Hendrick’s got four cars in the playoffs, JGR has four cars in the playoffs, our place has four cars, but only one of them is in the playoffs, so all of the focus is on the 14 car, and I think that makes it a little easier for us.”

“Those other four-car teams have to focus on all four of their cars and bring their best to the racetrack every single week,” explained Briscoe.

“And even on the racetrack, they’re all going to be fighting amongst each other, not giving each other a break. With me, I have three teammates out there who are going to do essentially everything they can to help me on the racetrack, and they can race the other guys a little bit harder than they would race me. Then even just preparing the racecars, we can take everything, the best of the best from each race car, personnel, whatever it may be, and apply it to our car. So I definitely think there’s an advantage to being in the position that we’re in compared to them.”

This year makes for Briscoe’s second playoff appearance, In 2022, he entered this very same elimination race nine points below the cut-line. And yet, advanced, going as far as the Round of 8 that year. Then and especially now, many look at him as one of the underdogs, but the 29-year-old doesn’t see it that way.

“I don’t consider ourselves to be an underdog,” he said. “Some people might’ve already written us off, but for myself and our entire race team, we all feel like we can win it all. That’s probably crazy from a guy who didn’t look like he was even going to be a part of it, but the way we look at it is if we can win the Southern 500, we can win probably any race throughout the entire season. It’s probably the hardest race on the schedule to win and, for us, the big thing was that all of us thought we could win, but we didn’t know we could win. And now we know that we can win, and to do it the way we did it, the confidence and the momentum that comes with that is unique and something that I don’t think any other race team can match right now.”