Tony Stewart’s SHR Going Out on a High as Smoke’s Mentee Discloses Infamous Kevin Harvick Era’s Return

Who would have predicted that Chase Briscoe would make it into the playoffs, let alone the Round of 12? The Stewart-Haas Racing driver shocked the world after winning the last race of the regular season at Darlington Raceway in the most extraordinary circumstances. He overtook two-time Cup Series winner Kyle Busch in the last lap. With this achievement, Briscoe secured his first victory since the Phoenix Raceway in 2022. Since then, the 29-year-old and his No. 14 team have been on a roll. They secured two top-ten finishes in the opening three postseason races.

With Stewart-Haas Racing ceasing operations at the end of the 2024 season, Briscoe is driving like he has nothing to lose. Victory at the 2024 Cook Out Southern 500 seems to have injected fresh energy into the team. They are inspired and motivated to end their season on a high.

Chase Briscoe is loving the vibe at Stewart-Haas Racing Whatever could go wrong went wrong for Chase Briscoe at Bristol Motor Speedway. He endured a malfunctioning rear-view mirror, a brake fan fire, and a poor pit stop. However, that didn't stop the Indiana native from advancing to the next playoff round. Established superstars such as Martin Truex Jr and Brad Keselowski struggled on the 0.533-mile. Nevertheless, an inspired Briscoe finished eighth, despite the many setbacks he faced over 500 laps. The 29-year-old narrowly made it into the Round of 12, finishing with 3,005 points, equal to Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman.

Loading quiz... In the post-race interview, an elated Chase Briscoe spoke about the mood at Stewart-Haas Racing after his playoff progression. He said, "I don't know what it is necessarily but there is just this confidence and swagger, especially amongst the #14 guys. The energy at SHR is unlike anything I have ever seen in my entire time on the Cup Side." Drawing parallels from his time in the Xfinity Series , Briscoe said, "The only thing that kind of relates to is when I was in the Xfinity and Kevin and all of them were on like 9-8 races a year and going over the Cup shop. Just like the buzz that the shop has. It's more than that right now. It's crazy, the atmosphere shift that we had, prior to Darlington to how it is now and I feel like that's what makes us a little bit different from than the rest of the teams."

Briscoe's title hopes couldn't have begun on a worse note. An early crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway forced him to finish rock-bottom in 38th place. However, the 29-year-old turned his fortunes around at Watkins Glen. He finished sixth on a road course while his playoff rivals struggled. They brought him back in the mix for a spot in the Round of 12 after securing 43 points. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver displayed a lightning-quick pace ahead of the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Night Race. This resulted in him finishing fifth in qualifying, ahead of Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin.

Despite the many setbacks, Chase Briscoe finished seventh and eighth at the end of the opening two stages, securing seven stage points. During the final stage, he was competing against Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr in the top three before disaster struck on Lap 333. Corey LaJoie's crash prompted the race leaders to go into the pit lane, but the SHR crew struggled to replace the No. 14 Ford's right-front tire, forcing him to lose almost 10 grid places. However, Briscoe took that setback in his stride and made up the lost ground on a track where making passes was proving to be difficult all night. His eighth-place result, combined with speeding penalties for Martin Truex Jr and Ty Gibbs, was enough to help Briscoe progress into the Round of 12.

Briscoe believes he can compete for the championship What a fairytale ending it would be if Chase Briscoe won the Cup Series title in Stewart-Haas Racing 's last NASCAR appearance. While a good deal of fans may consider such a prospect delusional, the 29-year-old believes he has as good a chance as anybody else. Only seven playoff races remain before the 2024 season ends. Given how unpredictable NASCAR can be, can anybody truly rule them out? Nobody would have predicted that a SHR driver would make it as far as Briscoe has, so why couldn't he go all the way and win the championship at Phoenix Raceway?

Brimming with confidence, Chase Briscoe said in the post-race interview, "I don't think anybody believes this, but I really think we can battle for the championship. I think these last two weeks show that. We brought top five racecars the last three weeks, four weeks if you count Darlington, and we're hitting our stride at the right time. And with this format, if you can just be good for 10 weeks, then you can be a champion, and I feel like we're as strong as any team right now."