Chase Briscoe is the only driver in the playoffs whose team will cease to exist after the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. However, that doesn’t mean that people are taking it easy at Stewart-Haas Racing. According to the driver of the #14 car, everyone on the team is working hard because they have a point to prove. Getting a job for next year is crucial for a lot of these people and their desire to put out a car capable of winning races is high.
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Briscoe does not have to worry about next season as he has already landed a seat at Joe Gibbs Racing. But that doesn’t mean he is taking it easy this year. The 29-year-old wants to become a Cup Series champion and doing that with SHR would be a fairy tale ending to their story. But that’s highly unlikely. The #14 driver did not have a good day at the Atlanta Motor Speedway as he was forced to retire after crashing with Kyle Larson.
“If anything, I think that’s what makes us even more scary, truthfully. We all have a chip on our shoulder to prove to the world that we can do it and there’s a lot of guys that still don’t have a job going into next year. They are trying to prove to another team that they can bring race-winning race cars and championship-winning race cars, so it doesn’t scare me,” he said in a recent media interaction.
Briscoe currently is at the bottom of the top 16, 21 points behind the round of 12 cutline. That’s not too many points to make up in two races but the SHR driver has to execute as well as possible. There will be a lot of responsibility on the team members as well to make the car as fast as possible and execute perfect pit stops during the races.
Does SHR have an advantage over HMS and JGR?
The 29-year-old will also have help from his other three teammates — Noah Gragson, Ryan Preece, and Josh Berry. That will be an advantage for SHR over the big teams like Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing since they have multiple drivers in the final 16. With the #14 being the only car in the playoffs for SHR, everyone on that team can collectively focus on just that one car. Such a strategy can work and Briscoe could go deep in the playoffs this season.
“I definitely think that part of it is an advantage. The Hendricks of the world, the Gibbs, the Penskes, they’re trying to figure out how to make four cars the best they can go every week, and then on the racetrack, all four of those guys are gonna be fighting each other for points, where I have three teammates out there that can make it really hard to pass them for the other guys and when I get to them they can make it a little bit easier,” he said.
For now, Briscoe will have to focus on running well in the next two races in the round of 16 — Watkins Glen and Bristol. It will be interesting to see how he fares over the next couple of weekends.
