Many drivers grew up chasing the shadows of legends like Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, while others molded their dreams around Jimmie Johnson. For Chase Briscoe, though, it was Rowdy himself, Kyle Busch, who stood as the benchmark.
Advertisement
Even now, at age 30, Briscoe feels fortunate to share the track with veteran drivers like Busch and Denny Hamlin, men he once watched from afar. He even recalled being starstruck the first time he lined up against Busch.
Asked which Cup Series driver he was most eager to face when he first broke into the series, Briscoe admitted, “I don’t even know. I mean even to this day too, I think it’s cool when I’m racing around Kyle Busch or Denny Hamlin.”
Those names, after all, were the pillars of the sport when young Briscoe was cutting his teeth in racing. He added that Busch provided the very first moment when reality hit him.
In his words, “Kyle Busch was the first moment where I had, that it was in the Truck Series at the time and he came and ran Atlanta. It was like my second ever NASCAR race.
“And I remember, I think I qualified right behind him and ran behind him for a lot of the first stage, and it was just like, ‘Holy smokes, I’m on the racetrack with Kyle Busch.’ I would say he was probably the first one.”
Now the script has flipped. Briscoe, once the kid in awe, is carrying the torch, stacking wins in the Cup Series and rising as a contender, while the driver he idolized continues to battle through two turbulent seasons.
Briscoe’s feelings about being considered an icon
Just as Briscoe once watched Busch tear up the track and now finds himself competing against him every week, he realizes that somewhere a young kid may be watching him with the same wide eyes. Yet the idea of being seen as an idol still sits strangely with the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver.
For Briscoe, it feels surreal that anyone could place him in that category. He insists he’s just “normal Chase” and often admits he still feels like he shouldn’t even be here. The thought that a young racer might already view him as their favorite driver is something he finds hard to wrap his head around.
He even pointed out that when he enters events like the Chili Bowl, he imagines someone in the field thinking, “’Oh man, there’s a Cup guy in here,’” but he doesn’t see himself that way.
To him, the notion feels odd, almost foreign. Briscoe confessed that he’s never truly thought of himself in that light, which makes the realization all the more unusual.
