As preseason guarantees go, it was a bold one. But this NASCAR racer is delivering
It may not go down in history with Babe Ruth’s called shot or Joe Namath’s guarantee, but in terms of auto racing, NASCAR driver Chase Briscoe’s prediction should rate pretty close.
Before the season, Briscoe, a rising star in the Xfinity Series, publicly stated his goal was to win eight races this year. Midway through the season, he’s already won five times in 16 starts and finished second three times.
“It’s weird to say, but I feel like I’ve always thrived under pressure,” said Briscoe, who will be in the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Ford in the Kansas Lottery 250 on Saturday at Kansas Speedway “I set a goal for myself, and the team has stuck behind me, but it’s kind of like Babe Ruth calling his shot. I knew if I did that, I had to back it up.”
Briscoe, 25, pointed to his first career win, on the Charlotte Roval in 2017, as how he has responded to performing under the pressure he has put on himself.
“A lot of people don’t realize I didn’t have a ride if I didn’t win that race,” he said. “Sleeping on couches, volunteering in race shops, and only having one race to prove myself, I had to do the best I could. So, I put a number out there. I want to win more races and prove my worth. I felt like that was an attainable goal, and that if I put the pressure on myself, it would give me something to shoot for.”
Briscoe parlayed that 2017 win at Charlotte into a fulltime ride with Stewart-Haas Racing in 2019 and earned Xfinity Rookie of the Year honors with a win at Iowa and 13 top-fives, including a third at Kansas.
When Briscoe won back-to-back races at Pocono and Indianapolis this year, he became the second driver in Xfinity Series history to post five or more wins in the first 13 races of the season. The previous driver to do so was Sam Ard in 1984 as part of an eight-win season that earned Ard his second straight Xfinity Series title.
“I think realistically we should have seven (wins),” Briscoe said. “I threw away Atlanta, and then Homestead it felt like we had one get away. Every single race track we have gone to we have been in the hunt. It is pretty unbelievable to think we have had a chance to win every single one of them. I know it sounds so cliche to say it is a testament to the guys, but it really is. Multiple people can get in good race cars and win, but it takes good people and a good environment to do that and I feel like we have a great team.”
Briscoe, who capped his 2016 ARCA series championship by winning the season-ending race at Kansas from the pole, has had to endure some hardships on and off the track this season.
When racing resumed after a stoppage for the pandemic, Briscoe won at Darlington on May 21, two days after his pregnant wife, Marissa, suffered a miscarriage. Three weeks later, crew chief Richard Boswell was suspended four weeks for a rules violation.
But Briscoe, under the direction of Tony Stewart’s former chief Greg Zipadelli, won three of the next four races. And he could be making the case for moving up to the Cup level as soon as next year.
“I think I have proved I can win at different types of race tracks” Briscoe said. “I don’t think there is a certain criteria. You have seen guys have a lot of success at the Xfinity level and move up and struggle or guys like Jimmie Johnson who didn’t really have Xfinity Series success but moved up to Cup and is one of the greatest of all time.
“My biggest thing is that if I can move up, I want to do it in something capable of winning. I have no desire in moving into something that is a 15th-20th place car. I want to go win races. So I want to start my career if I get to move up to Cup in a top notch-ride and learn good habits instead of learning bad habits driving worse handling race cars.”
Zipadelli, the competition director at Stewart-Haas Racing, would be in Briscoe’s corner if a Cup ride.
“Without a doubt,” Zipadelli said. “I think he is still young and has a lot to learn but I am very, very impressed with how quick he is learning how to race these stock cars. You watch guys and guys go fast, and then you watch guys that go fast and can pass cars. He just has a natural understanding of racing.
“I hope he is a part of Stewart-Haas for a long period of time. He is a good kid and we would love to see him on the Cup side with us.”
TV schedule at Kansas Speedway
Thursday: NASCAR Cup Series Kansas 400, won by Denny Hamlin
Friday: 6 p.m., Kansas 200 (NASCAR trucks), FS1
Friday: 9 p.m., ARCA Kansas 150, FS1
Saturday: 12:30 p.m., Kansas 200 (NASCAR trucks), FSN
Saturday: 4 p.m., Xfinity Kansas Lottery 250, NBCSN
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 10:16 AM.