Kevin Harvick’s farewell was indeed a big blow to the Stewart-Haas Racing camp. But that doesn’t mean that the Ford team will not step up their game in 2024. After all, it’s the four-time Cup champion Tony Stewart, who co-owns this team. However, with Kevin Harvick leaving and Chase Briscoe being the longest-tenured guy in Smoke’s team, the fans are expecting him to take over the mantle that the #4 icon had been carrying all these years. But can he do that? Is being another Kevin Harvick so easy?
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In an exclusive Fox Sports interview, Briscoe told Bob Pockrass that the reason Harvick was regarded as the leader of the pack was because he ran up front more consistently than everybody else. “So, when you look at the longest-tenure guy, I’m certainly that but the leader comes from the guy that’s running up front week in and week out,” he explained.
“We’re definitely fully capable of being the leader but our results have to back that up.”
Chase Briscoe, entering his fourth year at Stewart-Haas Racing, is the longest-tenured driver with the team. How he views that in terms of whether he is now the team leader and how he looks to handle the pressure of an organization in transition. pic.twitter.com/VMPSdAaV0W
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) February 10, 2024
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the pressure on Briscoe is extreme. There are two new additions to their team; Josh Berry is expected to replace Harvick’s #4 Mustang, and Noah Gragson is looking forward to erasing the bitter memories that chucked him out of Legacy Motorclub’s roster in the past.
With young drivers like them joining the team, Briscoe has to maintain his stronghold as the longest-tenured driver and perhaps the team leader, too.
A pressure-packed season is in front of Chase Briscoe
Later in the interview, Chase Briscoe admitted that this season is going to be the most pressure-packed in his career. “You know from a performance standpoint I need to pick it up to kind of what I did the sophomore year,” he said. “Last year was not acceptable by any means and with having new younger drivers coming in, you know, I feel like I have to definitely prove my worth and prove that you know I can do that top guy there. Obviously, from a sponsor standpoint, it’s super important to run good.”
Although Briscoe ended last year with four top-5 performances and eight top-10 finishes, he could only manage to crank up an average finishing position of 20.3. However, the Indiana native ultimately finished 30th on points after suffering from a severe penalty.
But his words speak loudly of how confident he is of becoming the next Kevin Harvick. “You know Kevin was the leader at that place because he ran the best so you know on the most consistent basis so for me that’s the biggest thing, I want to be the new Kevin Harvick at Stewart-Haas. I wanna be the guy that’s running up front week in and week out,” he told SiriusXM NASCAR radio.
So in the end, will his performance back his bold claim? Only time will tell.
