Briscoe Reflects on Championship Bid, Haunted by "What Ifs" of Phoenix

Chase Briscoe, fresh off an unexpectedly strong debut season with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) that saw him reach the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, admitted on Tuesday that the sting of falling short of the ultimate prize remains potent. Despite exceeding all initial expectations and achieving ambitious performance benchmarks set with his crew chief James Small, Briscoe finds himself dwelling on the missed opportunities that defined his championship bid.

"I mean, it was definitely a good first year, right?" Briscoe stated ahead of the NASCAR Awards Show. "I texted our group chat and told them, ‘we have a lot to be proud of,’ because we gave the whole field a half season head start." This sentiment acknowledges the significant acclimatization period Briscoe underwent after transitioning from Stewart-Haas Racing, where he spent his first four Cup Series seasons. His move to the No. 19 JGR Toyota, replacing the outgoing Martin Truex Jr. and pairing with crew chief James Small, was a strategic shift that yielded remarkable results.

The pairing of Briscoe and Small proved highly effective. At the outset of the year, Small presented Briscoe with a series of ambitious goals, including 15 top-five finishes and leading 800 laps. Briscoe, who entered the season with only two career wins, found himself not only meeting but often exceeding these targets. "James and I sat down at the start of the year and he showed me all these goals, and I was like, ‘man, I have only two career wins and you expect me to do this?’ and we pretty much did all of them," Briscoe recalled. The team achieved the desired top-five finishes and lap-leading tallies, and while they fell one win short of Small’s target of four victories, the overall performance surpassed initial projections.

The profound disappointment stems from Briscoe’s belief that his No. 19 car possessed the speed and capability to contend for the championship at Phoenix. While his teammate Denny Hamlin ultimately secured the title, Briscoe’s performance throughout the season, particularly in the playoffs where he accumulated more points than any other driver, indicated a genuine championship threat. However, a series of unfortunate events plagued his Phoenix weekend, beginning with a flat tire during practice that compromised qualifying. This was compounded by another tire issue during the race itself, forcing him to repeatedly battle back through the field.

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"It’s hard to swallow in a sense," Briscoe confessed. "Like, as the days go on, it gets even tougher because it would be different if we ran 15th all day. But I feel like we were capable of winning and just didn’t get to show it with all the issues. We went from the back to the front like two or three different times." This persistent adversity, while a testament to Briscoe’s resilience and the pit crew’s exceptional performance in gaining track position, ultimately proved to be an insurmountable hurdle in the championship decider.

A pivotal moment that Briscoe continues to dissect is a late-race tire call. While Kyle Larson and his crew chief Cliff Daniels opted for two scuff tires, a strategy that ultimately contributed to their victory, Briscoe urged Small to "trust your gut," leading to the selection of four qualifying scuffs. Briscoe now expresses regret over this decision, acknowledging that he influenced his crew chief away from what might have been a more advantageous tire choice. "I would personally rather be on offense, and I just wish that he would have obviously not let me talk him out of it," Briscoe admitted. "Who knows? You never know. It’s the question mark of what would have happened. So that’s the only thing that, I guess, is kind of burning me up is the tire issues we had and that I wish I would have let James trust his gut."

Despite the lingering frustration from Phoenix, Briscoe remains acutely aware of the monumental progress made in his inaugural season with JGR. The organization, led by Joe Gibbs, had expressed significant interest in Briscoe even before Martin Truex Jr.’s departure was finalized. Gibbs personally contacted Briscoe, relaying that his decision on the No. 19 seat would be communicated by a specific time. "The goal was to at least win a race," Briscoe stated, underscoring the team’s initial objectives. "I don’t think they expected this for our first season."

The narrative of Briscoe joining JGR began with a call from Gibbs. "Coach told me the day before we signed that he would let me know what Martin decided by 11 in the morning," Briscoe recounted. "Sure enough, he called me at 10:57 and his first words were ‘you better not screw this up.’" Briscoe, with a wry smile, shared a post-race anecdote from Phoenix: "So I told Coach on the grid after the race I hope I didn’t screw it up."

Looking ahead, the focus for Briscoe and Joe Gibbs Racing shifts to building upon the successes of 2023 and elevating their performance in the seasons to come. The team’s ability to reach the championship in their first year together, coupled with Briscoe’s personal growth and the strong foundation established with crew chief James Small, sets a high bar for future endeavors. "Now the goal is to build on this and move the goalposts even higher next year and beyond," Briscoe concluded, signaling a determined outlook for his continued career trajectory within the formidable Joe Gibbs Racing organization.