NASCAR
Cut to the Chase: Briscoe’s Fast Track to NASCAR Stardom
“I still want to prove to myself that I can do it,” Chase Briscoe said in Talladega Superspeedway victory lane on Sunday. “When I moved to North Carolina, [I] slept on a couch for three and a half years, was scrapping money to go to be able to pay Ross [Wece] $50 rent. I was doing it in the hopes of one day hopefully being a champion.”
Ten years ago, Chase Briscoe was sleeping on friends’ couches and scrounging for any driving opportunity. Fast-forward to 2025, the Mitchell, Indiana native now has a one-in-four shot at NASCAR’s ultimate prize–the Bill France Cup. How did Chase Briscoe forge this path from humble beginnings to being on the cusp of a Cup Series title? Here’s a look back at one of the more intriguing timelines to racing’s highest level in recent memory.
Briscoe made his first splash on the NASCAR scene with a full-time Truck Series effort in 2017. This came fresh off the heels of a title-winning ARCA campaign in 2016 with Cunningham Motorsports. His maiden National Series season saw Briscoe pilot the No. 29 Ford F-150 for Brad Keselowski Racing. Unfortunately, it was announced midway through the year that this team would shut down at season’s end. Teammate Austin Cindric was in that year’s Championship 4, while Briscoe sent this organization out on top by winning the season finale at Homestead. He ended the year with 14 top-10s and a sixth-place championship result. These accolades for the rookie warranted an offseason move up to Xfinity Series competition.
There are admittedly few highlights from Briscoe’s first Xfinity Series venture, only running for half of 2018. This piecemeal schedule saw him split time between Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 60 and the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 98 Fords. The latter of these rides was a childhood dream come true for the Indiana boy who grew up idolizing fellow Hoosier Tony Stewart. Briscoe did claim a first Xfinity Series win in the September’s maiden race at the Charlotte Roval. This win with Stewart-Haas proved to be a turning point in Briscoe’s fledgling career because it led to a full-time opportunity with this team.
2019’s Xfinity Series was largely dominated by ‘The Big 3’ of Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, and Cole Custer. This trio of drivers from elite teams accounted for 21 of 33 wins, and swept the top three championship spots. A mere step below them, however, was the 98 of Briscoe. The young gun for SHR did earn a win at Iowa Speedway in July, en route to a fifth-place points finish. Briscoe recorded 26 top-10s, trumping three of that year’s Championship 4. With The Big 3 all moving to Cup for 2020, the floodgates appeared wide open for Briscoe to put up a banner year.
Calling 2020 anything shy of a dream season for Briscoe would be underselling it. The No. 98 Ford went to victory lane nine times, propelling Briscoe to a maiden Championship 4 showing in Phoenix. Along the way in 2020, Briscoe saw emotion-fueled wins at Darlington in May and at his home track of Indianapolis. The former of these was the first race back after the pandemic pause, and came not long after a Briscoe family miscarriage. The season finale did not go in Briscoe’s favor, leaving him fourth in points. This career-defining year led Stewart-Haas to hand him the reigns of their flagship N0. 14 for 2021.
Similar to his first Xfinity season, however, Briscoe’s first chance in Cup was lackluster. The No. 14 was battling for the win at Indianapolis in August, but a course cutting penally ended his chances there. Three top-10s and 23rd in points was enough for Briscoe to take Rookie of the Year honors. Despite this achievement, many on-track aspirations were left unfulfilled.
The Next Gen Car’s debut in 2022 initially brought with it new life into Stewart-Haas Racing and Chase Briscoe. The No. 14 earned a first career top-five at the Daytona 500, parlaying that into a maiden win at Phoenix Raceway three weeks later. Now locked into the Playoffs, Briscoe’s entire season took on a whole new meaning. The 14 made it all the way into the Round of 8 as a first-time contender, and was leading late in the Martinsville cut race. After backsliding to ninth, however, combined with the ‘Hail Melon,’ Briscoe saw his Playoff campaign end. 2022 still ended on a very high note for the 14, with six top-10s in the last seven races. Finishing ninth in points showed potential stardom shining through from the sophomore driver.
2023 was largely a lost season for Briscoe, due to a debilitating penalty handcuffing his team in May. With only four top-10s after this ruling, the 14 was a distant 30th in points at year’s end. 2024 began in a similar fashion, which was only amplified when Stewart-Haas Racing announced a team closure in May. Thanks to a premature slip up from childhood friend Christopher Bell, however, it was learned that Briscoe would follow retiring superstar Martin Truex Jr. at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025.
In spite of setbacks, Briscoe did not go off quietly to end this season. The regular season finale at Darlington saw the No. 14 victorious again, locking up a Playoff spot in the 11th hour over a hard-charging Kyle Busch. SHR’s swan song season had new life breathed into it with one more shot at the championship. Briscoe survived past the opening round’s eliminations, only for a flat tire at the Roval to seal this team’s fate. The glass slipper finally broke here for this popular Cinderella Playoff run, Briscoe would end 2024 a fitting 14th in points.
2025 began on a very high note for the reborn Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota, scoring the Daytona 500 pole and ending The Great American Race in fourth. A self-admitted adjustment period for Briscoe still saw a string of strong results to open this season, capping off with a Pocono win in June. Now locked into the Playoffs once again, the 19 team’s consistency only improved from this point onward. The postseason began in perfect fashion for Briscoe, leading 309 laps for his second-straight Southern 500 triumph in a Darlington domination. In the second Playoff round, two top-10s and a 14th-place finish propelled Briscoe back into the elite eight, leading up to Sunday’s Talladega victory.
“I knew [the Championship 4] was capable of happening,” Briscoe said. “I knew all the pieces were going to be there. It was just a matter if I could go and perform. I feel like I was capable of doing it. But you don’t know until you go and do it. Yeah, I would be lying if I said the first kind of couple months of the year I was like, ‘This is way harder than I thought it was going to be.’ I was able to start getting some momentum rolling.”
“Once we honestly won Pocono, I felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders and everything started honestly feeling very similar to 2020 in Xfinity and even my ARCA season where I just go to the racetrack and I’m just fast. I’m not doing anything different. I finally know what I needed out of the car.”
“Yeah, I definitely felt like we were capable of this. It’s rewarding now that it’s actually been done and satisfying, for sure. Yeah, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel like we were capable of doing it. That’s why I said even what I said at the beginning of the year. If I don’t go win, I’m never going to get hired again because the expectation is you have to go to JGR and win. If you can’t win in a JGR car, why would anybody hire you for another team? Glad that I’ve been able to I feel like prove my worth. To be in the Championship 4 is a huge accomplishment itself. We want to win the championship. But to be one of those elite guys is a pretty special feeling.”
The No. 19 Toyota has seen seven top-10s through eight Playoff races to date in 2025. Briscoe has showed elevated performance reminiscent of Truex in this ride. Now entering the season finale at a track where Briscoe has experienced past success, this Joe Gibbs Racing crew appears poised to be a legitimate title threat. Briscoe remains the least experienced driver in this situation, though, making his first Championship 4 appearance. With an extra week to prepare, however, the sky is the limit for what this team can accomplish in Phoenix. A decade and a half ago, Briscoe’s hero turned the NASCAR world on its head with an electric Playoff run. Can another Hoosier recreate these footsteps and bring the Cup back to Joe Gibbs Racing?
“I talked about it after the Southern 500,” Briscoe said. “Just seeing the names and the faces on that trophy, it’s like, ‘Man, I don’t belong to be on this thing.’ If you looked at the championship one, I mean, it’s crazy to think that my name could even relatively be close to those guys. So yeah, I mean, it would be cool. As a kid, like, you dream of that moment. To be this close now to it, yeah, it would be devastating if it doesn’t work out. In the big scheme of things, there’s way more to life, too, than winning a championship. I think that’s the one thing that I’ve always tried to keep in perspective. We’re on this world for a very short amount of time. Me winning championships isn’t the biggest difference maker where I’m spending eternity. Just trying to keep that in perspective no matter what the results may be. I’m still going to give it my 110% best effort.”
Briscoe knows he will be racing against at least one teammate (Denny Hamlin) for the title. There is a very realistic chance that Christopher Bell will also qualify, placing three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas into the Championship 4. Briscoe said should that rare feat happen, it would not change much for his Phoenix outlook.
“Truthfully I hope that happens. It would be tough because I feel like they’re my biggest competition for it. Honestly, I don’t think it’s any different because I’ve learned, took me a couple months to kind of learn this, but at JGR you compete for wins against your teammates all the time. It’s not really like it’s uncharted territory for us. Obviously there’s more on the line when you’re racing for a championship. Yeah, honestly if I’m going to go against anybody, I hope it is them because I feel like at the end of the day if one of us can’t win, we hope the other guy wins, right? It would be just a huge thing for our company to have a three-in-four shot. I feel good about Christopher going to Martinsville, too. Hopefully he can get in. Hopefully all three of us can be going for it. That would be a pretty special thing. Hopefully we don’t screw it up like the end of Kansas, and one of us gets it.”
Things are seemingly lining up for a jubilant Joe Gibbs Racing after Phoenix, with Chase Briscoe on cloud nine(teen). Toyotas remain the teams to beat in these Playoffs through eight weeks, with five victories to their name. 500 pressure-packed laps around Martinsville Speedway on Sunday will either give JGR a 75% shot at the title or pit two new contenders against Briscoe and Hamlin. Regardless of this week’s outcome, Briscoe’s path to elite NASCAR stardom should be looked upon as a career blueprint for young drivers.
What appeared as a questionable hire by Joe Gibbs Racing a year ago has definitely panned out for short-term success. However this season shakes out in two weeks for Briscoe, the No. 19 team has certainly built a foundation for continued success in the years to come.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Chris Graythen/Getty Images
