Last year, Chase Briscoe etched his name into the playoff grid with a win at Darlington, the final race of the regular season. That win became all the more meaningful as he celebrated alongside his three-year-old son, Brooks, and wife Marissa, who was then expecting twins.
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The moment was made even more special with Briscoe kneeling beside another High Point-sponsored Stewart-Haas Racing car, overcome with emotion as tears welled in his eyes. It was a rare instance where win and family joy met in the same breath. But this past weekend at Pocono carried a different tone.
With Marissa and their three children watching from home, Briscoe admitted he longed for their presence in Victory Lane. He wished for a celebration akin to what Dale Earnhardt Jr. experienced just a day earlier after guiding Connor Zilisch to a landmark Xfinity Series win as a first-time crew chief for JR Motorsports.
As Briscoe put it, “I wish they were here. Normally I’m always super emotional, and I cry in Victory Lane and stuff. And I will say I was really good this time, except for when Brooks was on the phone with me. My oldest son — he was like, ‘Daddy, you won. You did the big burnout.’
“And that sucks, right? When they’re not here to celebrate that with you, but yeah, it’s going to be fun to, you know, go home, bring the big trophy.”
Briscoe added that Brooks, an outdoors enthusiast, would be thrilled by the eagle atop the Pocono trophy. “I’m sure he’ll break it thinking it’s a toy, but yeah, it’s going to be fun to go home. He’s at the age now where he’s almost four, so he kind of is understanding what’s going on, and yeah, I’m excited to get home to them,” he added.
Earnhardt Jr.’s own milestone came with a nostalgic change. In his first stint as crew chief, he walked beside his daughters on pit road, a wide grin across his face as Zilisch captured his first career oval victory in a breakout performance. It marked a poetic moment for Earnhardt Jr., who had swept Pocono in 2014 with Steve Letarte on the box.
