29-year-old Chase Briscoe is the only driver carrying Stewart-Haas Racing’s hopes in the 2024 Cup Series playoffs. Over 300 employees from the organization ride his back every race weekend with the hopes of seeing him succeed. This being the team’s last year in the championship challenge, everything is being done to aid Briscoe in winning the title. And this includes making a few difficult choices.
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The team announced ahead of Sunday’s race in Kansas that Josh Berry’s #4 pit crew will swap Briscoe’s #14 crew. This transition will put Briscoe in more able hands on pit road. Part of his team beginning this Sunday will be Daniel Smith (rear changer), Daniel Coffey (front changer), Evan Marchal (Fueler), and Mason Flynt (tire carrier).
How about these apples?
The No. 4 pit crew was on it all race long, including a final fast 9.4 second stop to be in position for the win. pic.twitter.com/Ns8fcoxgBy
— Stewart-Haas Racing (@StewartHaasRcng) August 9, 2022
Notably, some of these men have already worked with Briscoe. They were moved to the #4 team in 2022 back when Kevin Harvick was its driver and their return marks a little reunion. Nevertheless, Briscoe couldn’t help but feel bad for his crew being left out of the fight for the title after assisting him in progressing to the playoffs. He voiced the same during his pre-race interview.
“It’s tough you know they’ve been able to be there and get to this point right and that’s a decision that truthfully is made above me. I didn’t even know it was happening until they called me on Monday.” The driver texted his entire crew after the call and reiterated that he still viewed them as a part of the #14 team.
“They’ve got a lot to prove.”
A driver adjusting to a new crew and vice versa isn’t always easy, especially when Team Briscoe is short on time during the postseason. Although he isn’t entirely comfortable with this last-minute change, he understands how the game works. He continued, “You don’t want guys to be on the 14 and get kicked off, but that’s the decision that was made and you gotta just try to move on from it.”
“I told Josh on the way over here today that your pit crew is gonna be on it this weekend. They’ve got a lot to prove. I think it’ll be good. But I definitely hate it for those guys just because they were like family to me. It’s just a tough situation all the way around,” he said.
Briscoe was one of the only six playoff drivers to earn two top-10 finishes in the Round of 16. His average finish over the three races was 16.7. With the field set to go live from Kansas, he sits seven points below a transfer spot. It remains to be seen if the #14 Ford Mustang driver can continue his playoff bid further into the next round.
