Upon signing Chase Briscoe to drive the No. 19 Toyota in the NASCAR Cup Series starting in 2025, Joe Gibbs Racing executives described Briscoe as “the guy you have to get” when he comes on the free agent market.

A little over a year later and JGR executives look like geniuses.

Photo: Dominic Aragon/TRE

While he had a slow-ish start to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, Chase Briscoe has turned into the hottest driver of the summer. Briscoe has ranked second to only Alex Bowman for most points earned and best average finish in the last 10 races — earning 335 points and averaging 33.5 points per race.

In that stretch, Briscoe has the most top-five finishes — five, including three second-place finishes and a win. He is also tied for the most top-10 finishes (6), and the second-most laps led (221).

Not to mention, Briscoe has been a pole machine with a stout six poles on the season.

Qualifying well means everything in an age where races come down to track position and strategy. Briscoe has all the right ingredients for a championship — but does he have the winning recipe?

Momentum and racing are like peanut butter and jelly

Photo: Dominic Aragon/TRE

When Chase Briscoe gets into the playoffs, he will be immediately met by Darlington as the defending winner of the Southern 500. The No. 19 team has been strong there which should help Briscoe get a strong start to the first round.

Briscoe has run well at some of the more unusual ovals on the schedule — and sure enough Gateway and New Hampshire, are right there for him. Right in between is Bristol, where he had his first strong run with JGR. In the vicinity is Kansas, where he finished fifth in the spring, and the Charlotte Roval road course — a track type he has excelled at this season.

All of that is contingent on if Briscoe can keep up the momentum as other teams elevate their performance. There is no room for error, especially with only 10 playoff points to start the playoffs, and Briscoe has to start making up points in the first six playoff races as heavy hitters like William Byron and Denny Hamlin are already 18 points ahead of him — and are likely to earn more.

If Briscoe can get to the Round of 8, it’s going to get tricky, especially at Talladega where going for stage points can be rewarding but very risky.

Martinsville is solid for Briscoe, where he finished ninth in the spring, but speedways have been hit or miss for him. Las Vegas in the spring, Michigan and Nashville Superspeedway saw him fall back and fade as the race went on, while Homestead-Miami, Kansas and Charlotte oval were all top-five finishes.

Photo: Ryan Kemna/TRE

It’s all about execution. The No. 19 team struggled with it last year in the playoffs but this year seems different. Briscoe is gelling with crew chief James Small in a way Martin Truex Jr. was unable to last year.

Within their control, this team has everything they need to have a mistake-free Round of 16, some good-to-great runs in the Round of 12 and an elite Round of 8 — or just a win — to get to the Championship 4 that could bode well for Briscoe.

Even in his first Championship 4 appearance and third Cup playoff appearance ever, the 31-year-old former Phoenix winner could very well be the next first-time NASCAR Cup Series champion in November. Nonetheless, even making the Round of 8 — or more — in his first year at JGR, where he just wanted to find his style with their cars, would be an impressive feat to build on.

  • Round of 16: Darlington, Gateway, Bristol
  • Round of 12: New Hampshire, Kansas, Charlotte Roval
  • Round of 8: Las Vegas, Talladega, Martinsville
  • Championship 4: Phoenix

bold denotes site of past win

Chase Briscoe overview

2025 stats

  • One win (career season-high)
  • 10 top-five finishes, 12 top-10 finishes (career season-highs)
  • Six poles (career season-high)
  • 313 of 5929 laps led (career season-high)
  • 13.3 average finish (career season-high)

Strengths

  • Momentum, momentum, momentum
  • Strong team gelling together
  • Good everywhere

Weaknesses

  • Relative lack of playoff points
  • Somewhat hit or miss on speedways
  • Inexperience

Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.

A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.

Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick’s final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen’s stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers’ stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.

Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com