Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is the last NASCAR driver to win a race at Iowa Speedway when he won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race in 2019. He spoke about returning to one of his favorite tracks as the facility prepared to host its inaugural Cup event on Sunday night.
CHASE BRISCOE, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU ARE THE LAST NASCAR DRIVER TO WIN A RACE AT IOWA. WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS GOING BACK THERE FOR A CUP RACE? “I’m super excited. Every week we typically have meet-and-greets with sponsors and there’s always the question of ‘what’s your favorite racetrack?’ And it’s always Iowa. I would always say, ‘Well, we don’t go there in the Cup Series, but it’s Iowa Speedway,’ and now we finally get to to there in the Cup Series. I’m super excited. Truthfully, I’m not as excited as I probably would have been if they didn’t repave it because it is going to be a totally different racetrack now going there with the repave, but I think it’s still going to have some of those same Iowa characteristics, but certainly I was pretty bummed that they repaved it, knowing my past history there and the love that I have for that place and that racetrack has always really suited my driving style for whatever reason, so I’m super excited to go and looking forward to it.”
HOW DOES YOUR SITUATION WORK FROM A DRIVER’S STANDPOINT AS FAR AS THE PROCESS? ARE YOU SENDING OUT RESUMES? WAITING FOR PHONE CALLS? HOW DOES IT WORK SEARCHING FOR THAT NEXT OPPORTUNITY? “For me, it’s been no different than what you were saying. Everybody I know I’ve been reaching out and telling them that I was available. I think that was the big thing is up until SHR told us what was happening two weeks ago, I wasn’t allowed to go talk to other people because we didn’t know if there was going to be one charter or two and obviously it ended up being all four, but I didn’t know what the cards were going to be yet. That was the first thing I actually asked when Tony sat all the drivers down and asked if we had any questions. I said, ‘Yeah, what does this mean for us as far as being able to talk to other teams?’ And he said, ‘You guys are free to do whatever you want,’ so literally while I was sitting in the room I started texting different people just letting them know, ‘Hey, I’m gonna be available and need to try to find something.’ It’s really no different. I think you still are trying to put yourself out there and let people know that you’re available and go talk to them and meet them and do whatever you have to do while also trying to perform on the racetrack and show your worth. I definitely think that this is one of the more unique and interesting silly seasons in the fact there are so many drivers. We’ve never really been in that situation where there are this many drivers that are already in the Cup Series looking for a job, and then you also have the normal Xfinity and Truck guys trying to move up, too. I’m just trying to make sure that I’m not left out. I don’t have anything to fall back on. I’m not like some of the other people, where they have family business or something like that and with a two-and-a-half year old and a wife and then twins on the way, I definitely can’t afford to be left out and not have anything, so I’ve just been really trying to do everything I can to put my best effort forward on the racetrack and obviously off the racetrack too and just trying to prove my worth to whoever out there may be looking.”
HAVE YOU HAD ANY COMMITMENT FROM YOUR PARTNERS TO HELP YOU FIND THAT NEXT CHANCE? “There’s not been anything on paper signed, but I think all of them have been pretty happy with the relationship we’ve been able to build over the last couple of years. All of them were definitely willing to talk to whoever it is I end up going to wherever I end up, but I know for a fact there’s not any commitment on paper. And that’s one thing I would say that Mahindra was pretty adamant about was when I started this whole process they were obviously one of the first people I called and they made it pretty clear that they don’t want to be the main topic of discussion. They want a team to hire me because of me and not because of who I can bring, and even from their side they felt like it was better for them when they do go back and try to sell it to the higher ups, if a team comes to me and says, ‘Hey, we want Chase for Chase and not because of Mahindra Tractors or HighPoint.com,’ it was easier for them to internally sell it as well. So, nothing on paper, but I am pretty confident that I have a great enough relationship with the Mahindra Tractors and HighPoint.com and all these people that whatever I end up finding and landing I’m sure there are gonna be discussions there, but nothing really on paper by any means as far as that stuff goes.”
WHAT HAVE YOU TAKEN FROM YOUR SHR EXPERIENCE THAT WILL HELP YOU WITH YOUR NEXT MOVE? “I would say one thing that kind of stands out more than anything is I’ve been at Stewart-Haas through different times with Stewart-Haas. I was here in ‘18-19-20 when everything was going great. It seemed like we couldn’t lose races if we even tried, and now I’ve been on the other side of it, ‘21-22-23 and now where we’re on the opposite side of the hill, so to speak, when it comes to the momentum and the performance side. So, I think just being able to, wherever I go I’ve been able to go through adversity and I’ve seen both sides of why it’s been successful when it’s been successful and when it’s on the other side of things kind of understanding different areas that need to be pushed and how to push those areas and from a communications standpoint, literally everything from top to bottom, so I think that’s one thing that no matter where I go, whether it’s a team ready to win or a team that’s kind of on the other end of it, I have experience at all of those structures of life from a race team standpoint, where some people have never been able to experience one or the other. That is the one thing I think that as unfortunate as it’s been to struggle the last couple of years, I do think it makes you kind of want it a little bit more and it makes you hungry, especially whenever you’ve been able to feel what the other side feels like. The Xfinity stuff with all of the winning we were able to and even in 2022, the first year Next Gen, going to the Round of 8 and winning at Phoenix. I know what that feels like and being able to go through this down time over the last two years, I think, has honestly been a good process for me personally and just understanding that side. Truthfully, it’s something I never really experienced in my career before, but it’s something that I felt like has probably made me stronger as a race car driver, just understanding how to maximize days when your car is not good, and just all the things that kind of come along with that.”
DO YOU LOOK AT THE NEXT SEVERAL MONTHS AND FEEL YOU WILL HAVE WHAT YOU NEED TO ACCOMPLISH GOOD THINGS OR DO YOU THINK IT’S GOING TO BE A WEEK TO WEEK BATTLE TO SEE WHO IS STILL AT SHR AND WHO ISN’T? YOU CAN’T BLAME PEOPLE IF THEY DECIDE TO LEAVE, RIGHT? “No, you can’t blame them at all. It’s the situation they were put in, so you can’t blame them at all. I’ve even said it the last two weeks in the media, but, truthfully, I’d be lying if I said we’re not at a disadvantage when we show up at the racetrack. Every other team that we’re racing against, all they focus on week in and week out is how to make their race car go fast that weekend. At our place, we’re trying to figure out how we’re gonna provide for our families next year, where we’re gonna work next year, and on top of all that, how am I gonna get a fast race car to the racetrack. So, it’s 100 percent a real thing. I would say that it’s gonna go in ebbs and flows. I think these first three to four weeks post the time we got told will be telling because I think people, I know every single guy on my team right now is taking interviews, so I think it will be hot and heavy these first three or four weeks, and then I think if we can survive that four or five week stretch, I think if they stay those first five weeks after, then they’re probably in it for the long haul, but then I think towards the end of the season it’s gonna kind of ramp back up and guys are gonna be trying to make sure they have something, so I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a concern that I do think it’s gonna be really hard for us to potentially get cars to the racetrack how we want to, just from a people standpoint. I was literally over at the shop an hour ago and one of the guys told me this is his last week. He’s going to work somewhere else, so it’s real. It’s 100 percent real, but I do think as far as the road crew guys go, I’m pretty confident that all of them are committed for the long haul. We’re a pretty tight-knit group. We’ve been together for four years, just working with me but even before that they were with Clint. I would say they’re easily one of the top three groups in the garage, so I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to stick it out, but the shop guys and stuff like that, it’s gonna be a challenge for sure.”
IN THE END WILL SUCCESS HELP YOUR SITUATION? “That’s what I told our guys when all of this went down. I said, ‘Look, at the end of the day we can pout and whine about it, but the circumstances aren’t gonna change and all that we can do is control what we can control, and I can assure you guys that if we’re winning races and running up front, it’s gonna be way easier for us to find a job than the guys that aren’t winning races and running up front.’ That’s kind of what we’ve been trying to focus on and, truthfully, the last five or six weeks has been a struggle for us, but hopefully we can turn that around these next couple of weeks and kind of get back on track.”
CAN YOU SPEAK TO HOW YOUR RELATIONSHIP HAS EVOLVED WITH YOUR TEAMMATES AND NOW ALL OF YOU BEING IN THIS UNIQUE SITUATION? “It is unique, to say the least. I think that it’s been, truthfully, probably the most fun I’ve ever had at Stewart-Haas this year, just with how well the teammates get along. In the past, I got along really good with Aric and Kevin and Cole, but it’s just been a different camaraderie, I would say, among the four of us. Up until the announcement, we worked so well together and really tried to balance things off of each other and just tried to help each other out, and I think we still are doing that, but I would say at the same time we all know what’s happening. All four of us are competing for the same jobs, so I think we still want to help each other out, but it’s definitely probably become, not cut throat, but we all know. We know that one of us is potentially gonna get left out of a ride, or two of us, or whatever, and we know that we’re competing against those guys week in and week out for our livelihood now, so it has changed the dynamic, I think, a little bit. We still all get together. Literally, just before this we all sat down and were going through Iowa stuff together, so we still know that at the end of the day us helping each other out is only gonna boost the performance of all of us and we need to do that to show our worth, so I think it’s been a cool dynamic, truthfully, just getting to be around those guys and be around a group that is all relatively the same age as me and even from the experience standpoint we’re all kind of the same, where in the past I never really had that as far as teammates go, so it’s been a lot of fun.”
IS THERE ANYONE YOU’VE LEANED ON FOR ADVICE ON HOW TO APPROACH THIS SITUATION? “Yeah, I would say the one guy that I have talked to quite a bit is Aric Almirola. Me and him, especially the last three or four years, have become pretty close. Just talking to Aric and bouncing ideas off of him of how to approach things. He’s been through different transition periods in his life and driving for different teams and things like that, so I called Aric and just asked different things. There was all kinds of advice that he gave me, but I think the biggest thing from Aric’s side of things is ‘don’t change who you are and don’t change what you’re doing just trying to get something new. Stick to Chase Briscoe and keep being Chase Briscoe and don’t try to act like somebody you’re not. If teams want you, they’re gonna want you because you’re Chase Briscoe and not some guy you’re posing to be like,’ so that’s been one thing I would say that kind of stood out – not changing how I am and not changing the process of the things I go through and if that’s enough for a team, it’s enough and if it’s not, it’s not, but I’m not gonna change who I am just trying to get a job in a sense.”
HOW HAS IT CHANGED FOR DRIVERS LOOKING FOR JOBS THROUGH THE YEARS? “I would say it’s definitely different in the sense that now the social landscape makes a difference. How many followers you have is a big thing on how sellable you are and how attracted people are to you, so it is different. I think 15 years ago, nobody cared how many Twitter followers or Instagram followers you had, but now certainly they do and, for sure, the sponsors do, so it has changed, just the landscape of how we do things has evolved. Just like 15 years from now it’s gonna be totally different than how we’re doing it now, but I would say that is one thing that growing up racing you don’t really understand just the impact of everything you put online is always going to be out there. It’s gonna live forever, so there are guys that I’m sure have stuff that in the past came back to bite them, and I think that’s where it definitely had changed, just because you have to really be buttoned up from top to bottom now. There’s no weaknesses that aren’t gonna get shown, especially on the social media side, so that’s one thing I would say has been different. And just how important that stuff is to what we do. Essentially, we’re race car drivers, but we’re also a marketing company and to be a marketing company you have to be good on social media, so that’s kind of what we’ve turned into.”
IS THERE ANYBODY YOU’D LIKE TO TAKE WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU LAND? “No, I think it is always going through your head if you have a good relationship with those guys. Now, if you don’t have a good relationship with your team, then probably not. For me, I’m super close to all of my guys. Like I said, I’ve been with them for four years and they come to birthday parties and we just had our gender reveal a couple weeks ago and nearly all of them were at that, so we are a really tight-knit group. For me, that’s what I’ve told all of them, ‘Look, every team that I talk to I’m gonna tell every single one of them that I think you guys are a top three group in the garage.’ The reality of it is that I know this group will never be together again as far as every individual goes, but hopefully a couple of them will be able to come and be a part of whatever I’m doing, just because I think having somebody familiar to you is always nice when you go over to a new situation, but the reality of it is we’re never gonna be the same group we are now anywhere else because no team is gonna take the entire group from top to bottom and fire who they have now. I’ve just been telling all of my guys, ‘Look, anything I can do for you guys from a recommendation standpoint or anything, I’ll go to bat.’ I know for a fact that they’re one of the best groups in the garage, so it’s a shame that we’re getting taken apart, but that’s how life is and I’m gonna do everything I can though for those guys and try to find them the best opportunity I can.”
HOW DO YOU HEAD INTO IOWA? IS IT DIFFERENT NOW WITH MORE EYES ON YOU AND TRYING OUT FOR A JOB? “I feel like every week at this level you have to perform week in and week out. You can’t have a couple bad weeks because it’s like the stock market. One week you’re the hottest guy in the sport and three weeks from now you could have three bad weeks in a row and everybody thinks you’re washed up and can’t drive anymore, so you’re always auditioning. You’re always trying to prove your worth. There’s just a ton of things that go into it, but I don’t think my approach changes. If anything, I certainly do feel like my back is up against the wall in the sense of having to go perform, but you throw in the job situation, the team situation, well not to mention now that we’re in the middle of this playoff battle. We went from being 20 points above the cutline to now we’re 28 behind the cutline just in three weeks, so we have to get the train back on the tracks and start performing and that’s the hard thing, I think, at least with our group internally at SHR. The other guys aren’t really in a playoff position. We’re still racing to make it into the playoffs, where the other guys have to win a race right now, so we just have to have every i dotted and t crossed, and that’s where with all the chaos going on behind the scenes has made it a little hard.”
HOW BIG IS IT FOR YOU TO SEE ANOTHER TRACK LIKE IOWA IN THE MIDWEST GET ADDED TO THE CUP SCHEDULE? “Obviously, I’m a little biased just how much I love Iowa Speedway, but I do think just racing in that part of the country is really good for us. I was just talking about it the other week when we were racing in St. Louis. That’s such a motorsports hotbed, I feel like, amongst all kinds of different divisions. It’s good for the Cup Series to be there and be represented, and I feel the same about Iowa. It’s the heart of the Midwest. There’s a lot of motorsports in that area. Knoxville is right down the road. You’ve got the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and a lot of guys that have roots to sprint cars are gonna be running 25 minutes up the road on Sunday running the Cup race, so I think anytime we can have that crossover is always good, and, yeah, it’s another race in the Midwest. For me, I’m a Midwest guy, so I’d much rather be in the Midwest racing than anywhere else, just because I get to see family and friends. Like I said, I’m probably a little bit biased, but certainly glad we have another Midwest track on the schedule.”
PGA GOLFER WYNDHAM CLARK TALKED ABOUT HOW 80 PERCENT OF THE FIELD WALKS AWAY MAD AND FRUSTRATED AFTER EACH A LOT OF THE ROUNDS. DOES THAT RELATE TO RACE CAR DRIVERS AS WELL? “I would say that is spot on, literally, to what we do. Every single week I come in on Tuesdays and I get ranked on my performance. They might tell me I’m a 31st-place driver one week and one week I might be the second-best driver. I know internally that I didn’t forget how to drive over the course of one week. If I’m second one week and now I’m 31st, I didn’t change what I’m doing, but, yeah, I think that’s the thing about racing too is that the best guy in the world – say it’s Kyle Larson – he loses way more than he wins and that’s very similar to golf. The best golfers in the world lose way more than they win and it is a hard battle, I think. It’s probably a little bit easier if you’re Kyle Larson and your bad days are still running fifth, sixth, seventh, but, for us, it is challenging. There might be one week, look at Darlington, we ran fourth or fifth and I go to St. Louis the other week and I run 20-something. I didn’t randomly one week know how to drive and the other week I didn’t. There’s just so many circumstances that go into it and it is frustrating, especially at the Cup level because all of us are good. I feel like you could take any of the top 25-30th place guys and put them in the best car that day and they’re probably gonna be right there in the top three battling for the win, but you get labeled as a guy that isn’t good or isn’t as good as this guy when I feel like a large majority of it is the car a lot of the time, especially at the Cup level just because we are all pretty good at what we do and we’re all normally within a tenth or two, so I definitely think that quote is very, very relatable to what we do and it’s frustrating for sure on those days or even those weekends where, I mean I felt like this past weekend everything I did if I did everything perfect, I was gonna run maybe 15th. We just were off all weekend long and it’s kind of like missing the cut.”
SO HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT? “I think, for me, honestly it’s my faith. We have a bible study group. It’s me and Michael McDowell and Corey LaJoie and a couple other guys and we even talk about this sometimes, how we’re labeled that what our worth is is where we finish on a given weekend. I think that’s where you just have to know that your real worth isn’t driving a race car and wherever we finish that weekend, or where we rank on pit road or whatever, there’s a lot more that comes to our worth than that. That’s where I think just being grounded in that certainly helps. Having a support system and, for me, trying to be the best dad and husband I can be is extremely important. My son has no idea if I run 30th or win that weekend. He’s just excited to see me and being the best I can be at home I say is a huge part of the balance in my life, especially over these last couple of years where we haven’t had the performance on the racetrack is just trying to perform in other areas and do it to the best of my ability.”
#
Author
Discover more from The Racing Times Magazine
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
