NASCAR fans oftentimes think that there is very little difference from one team to another, that they all pretty much do the same thing and have the same strategies.
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There’s oftentimes a night and day difference from one team to another, and Chase Briscoe is proof of that. After four years with Stewart-Haas Racing, which folded at the end of last season, putting Briscoe and his team, as well as the other three SHR teams, all out of a job, the 30-year-old Briscoe has rebounded well with his new team, Joe Gibbs Racing.
And the difference between SHR and JGR is much more than just initials, the Michell, Indiana native said.
“It is definitely different,” Briscoe said Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he’s preparing for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, the longest race of the year on the NASCAR Cup schedule. “The expectation is so much higher at a place like JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing).
“I was telling my dad, after the Bristol race, all four JGR cars were in the top eight, and if we would have had all of the cars at SHR in the top 10, we would have been going nuts, it would have been the best day ever, at least towards the end of SHR.
Adding, “Whereas at JGR, at the (competition) meeting, you would have thought we all four ran 30th or worse. It is so different. You are expected to go win and be the best car, and the company is expected to be the best company each week. From that standpoint, the mental side of things has been way different.”
“That expectation change has been an adjustment for me. It is nice that it is back to that, but it is different than what I’ve been used to the last couple of years.”
Briscoe earned two wins, 13 top 5 and 30 top 10 finishes in his four seasons and 144 starts for Stewart Haas. He also made the playoffs in 2022 (finished 9th) and last season (finished 14th).
In his first 12 races for JGR this season, while Briscoe has not reached victory lane, he has four top 5s, five top 10s, and one pole. He heads into Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 ranked 12th in the NASCAR Cup standings. While he’s still in contention to make the 16-driver playoff field, a win in the remaining 14 regular-season races would cement Briscoe in the playoffs.
The Only Downside This Year Has Been Qualifying
“I feel like we are not even close to our full ability, and a lot of it just comes down to Saturdays (qualifying),” Briscoe said. “The cars have so much more potential than anything I’m used to driving in the Cup Series that a lot of time in qualifying, I’m just under-driving. The car can take so much more.
“Mentally, I’m so used to having to lift way back here, and this car will just take it. I feel like if I just qualify better, it is going to make things way, way better, wherein the past, one of my strongest things have been qualifying. It has just been an adjustment from that standpoint. I feel like once we start qualifying up front, our days will just get easier, because right now, we are coming from the back all day long.
‘It just makes things challenging. Even the points situation. I think we’ve literally had 17 stage points all year, and we are 12th in points. We’ve been getting the finish, but we haven’t been running up front all day long. It all starts in qualifying.”
