A lot of drivers buckle under pressure but Chase Briscoe was not one of them. Going into the Southern 500, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver knew that it was a do-or-die race and he got the job done. The 29-year-old’s victory breathed new life into the whole of SHR, a lot of whose employees will be out of a job after the end of this season. Making the playoffs in the organization’s final year in the Cup Series is a big deal and they will do whatever they can to make Briscoe go as far as possible.
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For the driver, this was nothing new. He has always performed and delivered better under pressure than otherwise. That has been the case his whole career. At the end of the 2019 season, when he was still an Xfinity Series driver, it seemed like he would not have a seat without funding.
That’s when HighPoint came in and got him a ride for 2020. Briscoe knew he had to deliver that season to have a future in the sport and won a whopping nine races leading to a Cup Series call-up. Darlington saw a similar story of perseverance and performance under pressure by the driver of the #14 car.
“I feel like I run better under heavy pressure for whatever reason,” he said in the post-race press conference. “I just feel like I do a lot better under those situations than not having a lot of pressure. I put a lot of pressure on myself going into this week.”
Briscoe heaves sigh of relief at Darlington after Daytona embarrassment
Briscoe was not just racing for himself at Darlington. He had the hopes of all 300-plus employees at SHR desperate to see at least one car in the playoffs. The 29-year-old knew what his win meant to the team and teared up inside the car as he saw the checkered flag before anyone else.
It needed to be a good performance due to what happened at Daytona the week prior. Briscoe finished a decent P14 but he was livid with himself. The SHR star should have finished a lot higher given how his day had gone but was just not able to do it. He even promised his crew chief that he would make up for it the next week and well, he did that in the best possible way.
“Last week at Daytona was the worst race by a mile I have ever raced in my entire career. I was embarrassed, like so embarrassed,” he added.
All of that is in the past now and Briscoe now only has eyes for the future. He will join one of the best NASCAR teams of all time, Joe Gibbs Racing, next season. Before that, he would love to give SHR the best possible send-off from the sport.
