{"id":181558,"date":"2025-08-28T04:48:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T04:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/181558\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T04:48:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T04:48:17","slug":"briscoe-returns-to-southern-500-facing-different-must-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/181558\/","title":{"rendered":"Briscoe returns to Southern 500 facing different must-win"},"content":{"rendered":"

This will be the third time that Chase Briscoe<\/a> has raced in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs but this time is different.<\/p>\n

He is expected to compete and contend for a championship.<\/p>\n

His first two playoff appearances came with the embattled remnants of Stewart-Haas Racing<\/a> in 2022 and 2024. This was not the organization that dominated a decade with Tony Stewart<\/a> and Kevin Harvick<\/a> but the version that crumbled and eventually folded.<\/p>\n

That Briscoe even made the playoffs was something to celebrate, especially last year due to so many employees departing once the closure news was made public, but the standards are much different at Joe Gibbs Racing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was telling my wife that couple weeks ago, that this is really the first time I\u2019ve ever legitimately thought I could win a Cup championship,\u201d Briscoe said during NASCAR Playoff Media Day in Uptown Charlotte on Wednesday. \u201cIn the past, you make the Playoffs and it\u2019s exciting, but down deep you kind of know that the odds of you winning are pretty slim, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas now, not to say that I\u2019m the favorite by any means, but I feel like I have a legitimate chance to go do it, where at SHR, you never really felt like you had a legitimate shot to do it. Definitely feels different this time around knowing that you have a shot and I would say this Playoffs feels different because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Briscoe finished the regular season eighth in the standings, with his victory at Pocono locking him into the playoffs, starting the 10-race gamut as the No. 9 seed and four points above the cutline. There were 10 overall top-5s in the first 26 races and three runner-ups at Sonoma, Dover and Iowa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve finished second a lot, but the one was to (Shane Van Gisbergen<\/a>, Sonoma) and that one, I don\u2019t think I could have won unless something crazy happened to him,\u201d Briscoe said. \u201cThe Dover race, I definitely think I could have potentially won, but it was very high risk of wrecking myself and I don\u2019t remember where the other one was where we finished second (Iowa) but I\u2019m sure there is a chance to win that one potentially too.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, don\u2019t know. If you keep putting yourself in those positions, you\u2019re going to win more races. And the good thing is, we\u2019re in position. It\u2019s just a matter of putting it all together there at the end. I feel good about it. Hopefully we can continue to put ourselves in those positions and they\u2019ll eventually go our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

But again, that is also a reflection of the changing environment Briscoe finds himself in, because a runner-up would have been something to begrudgingly celebrate at Stewart-Haas but it\u2019s no longer good enough in the big picture.<\/p>\n

By his own admission, Briscoe said he needed to win at Gibbs or find something else to do on Sundays, and he has at least won by this point of the campaign. Now, maybe a championship isn\u2019t totally the expectation but he wants to still be active in the hunt come the penultimate race at Martinsville.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean we need to go and perform in the Playoffs, right,\u201d Briscoe said. \u201cThat\u2019s the difference now is that (at) SHR, did you want to get knocked out of the Round of 16? No, but if you did like there was nobody like, \u2018man, that was a disappointing season.\u2019 They were still excited they made the Playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere here (Joe Gibbs Racing), it\u2019s almost like if you don\u2019t make the Round of 8, that\u2019s kind of a failure on the year and really the final four even, right? It\u2019s just a different mentality. For me, think we\u2019re fully capable of making it to the final four. From a speed standpoint, I would say arguably we are one of the better cars kind of week in and week out, it\u2019s just a matter of putting the whole race together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Briscoe said he has the potential of Denny Hamlin<\/a> and Christopher Bell<\/a> but it\u2019s just a matter of executing the way their teams do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re doing a better job right now putting the whole race together than what we do, and a lot of that falls on myself going back to what I was just saying with the risk versus reward,\u201d Briscoe said. \u201cI think as I get better in understanding and getting more experience, that\u2019ll be better for me. But yeah, I\u2019m glad we were able to win a race and make the Playoffs, but now that we\u2019re here, we need to do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Briscoe is to make the final four, it\u2019s more than likely going to require a win, he surmises. He is four points above the cutline now but if he advances on points into the Round of 12, he will start that round below the cutline and then faces an even larger margin should he advance on points into the Round of 8.<\/p>\n

Come a certain point, Briscoe is going to have to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to have more Playoff points,\u201d Briscoe said. \u201cI\u2019m confident that we can get to that Round of 8, but once you get to the Round of 8, at our points deficit, there\u2019s a chance you\u2019re going to almost have to win the race. Somebody\u2019s going to be able to point their way into the final four, but realistically for us, it\u2019s probably not going to be an option.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re already starting 20-30 points behind, so that\u2019s the big thing I think for us is we have to be able to execute in these first two rounds and hopefully win a race or two. If we can do that and shorten that gap Playoff points-wise, I think it puts us in a better spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately for him, the playoffs this year start with the crown jewel race that he won last year when it was the regular season finale in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. And really, the more things change, the more they stay the same because Briscoe feels like he needs to win this race just as much as he needed to last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we need to go win it just to lock into the next round,\u201d Briscoe said. \u201cIt\u2019s different (because) your back was up against the wall when it\u2019s the last race of the regular season and you\u2019re not going to race for a championship if you don\u2019t win but being in the playoffs this year, it\u2019s the same feeling — that you have to go perform. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a must-win and if I\u2019m running sixth, I don\u2019t need to do anything trying to win the race and go wreck. But if you can win the race, we need to do it for the playoff points that come with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, I can go there and back up what we were able to do last year but it\u2019s going to be different. Everything changes throughout the year. Setups are different, tires are different, track will age, and it\u2019ll be a challenge for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this article<\/p>\n

Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics<\/p>\n

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