Notes of Interest
● Chase Briscoe has made three NASCAR Cup Series starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, and each time he’s raced at the 1.058-mile oval, he’s come away with a better finish. The Mitchell, Indiana, native’s first Cup Series start at New Hampshire came in 2021 during his rookie season, when he finished 27th. In his return to the track in 2022, Briscoe bettered his mark from the year before by 12 spots, finishing 15th. And in Briscoe’s most recent drive at New Hampshire last year, he finished 10th. Briscoe comes into Sunday’s USA Today 301 with five top-10 finishes this season and 26 in his career, a mark highlighted by his victory on March 13, 2022 at Phoenix Raceway.
● Phoenix holds many of the same attributes of New Hampshire in that it’s a flat, mile-long oval with little banking in the corners. When Briscoe scored his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Phoenix, he did it in just his 40th career Cup Series start. The victory also secured Briscoe’s place in the NASCAR Playoffs and earned him the honor of being the 200th Cup Series winner in NASCAR history. In Briscoe’s most recent Cup Series race at Phoenix back in March, he finished ninth.
● Regarding this year’s NASCAR Playoffs, nine regular-season races remain before the 16-driver, 10-race playoffs begin Sept. 8 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Briscoe is currently 19th in the standings, 44 points outside the top-16 cutoff. He can still point his way into the playoffs with a string of solid runs in these next nine races beginning Sunday at New Hampshire. However, the easiest way to make the playoffs is to win. “Win and you’re in” is the playoff mantra, and 10 drivers have already punched their playoff ticket, most recently reigning Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney last Sunday at Iowa Speedway in Newton. A victory by Briscoe would secure his spot in the playoffs and leapfrog him into an 11th-place standing.
● Prior to racing at New Hampshire in the NASCAR Cup Series. Briscoe made two other starts at the Magic Mile – one in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and one in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Briscoe’s New Hampshire debut came in the Truck Series on Sept. 23, 2017, when he drove a Ford F-150 for team owner Brad Keselowski to a respectable 11th-place finish. Briscoe’s next start at New Hampshire was nearly two years later in the Xfinity Series when, on July 20, 2019, he finished sixth in a Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.
● Briscoe carries the colors of Zep this weekend at New Hampshire. Zep is the go-to cleaning brand for professionals and its iconic blue and gold palette adorns Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the USA Today 301. Zep is a leading innovator, producer and distributor of maintenance, cleaning and sanitation solutions for industrial and institutional, retail, and food and beverage customers. Briscoe’s partnership with Zep isn’t confined to the racetrack. From his garage at home or on the Chase Briscoe Racing sprint car hauler that travels to races across the country, Zep is always within reach. A few favorites include Zep’s engine degreaser, foaming glass cleaner, spray cleaner and polish, heavy-duty foaming degreaser, penetrating lubricant and brake cleaner. Said Briscoe: “Whether it’s at the track or at home, Zep is always close by. From its line of cleaning supplies to its car care products, you’ll find Zep inside my race hauler and inside my garage. Whether it’s my sprint car, my street car or my tractor, Zep helps me keep them looking right and running right.”
Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Zep Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Each time you’ve competed at New Hampshire in the NASCAR Cup Series, you’ve earned a better result. Are you finding that experience is the best factor when it comes to performing well in Loudon?
“For whatever reason, it just seems like every time I go to New Hampshire, I’m still trying to just figure out my bearings and what I need to go fast. The Cup car has been kind of interesting. I’ve actually run statistically pretty well in the Cup car there, but it’s definitely a place I feel like I struggle at, and I’ve definitely put in a ton of work in trying to get better there. As big of a struggle as it is and as frustrating as it is, I do enjoy going up to New Hampshire just because I feel like every time I go there, I see improvement. I’m seeing results from the stuff I’ve been working toward, and I’m excited to improve on it a little more from last year. Last year we ended up 10th there. Hopefully, we can improve on that.”
What would it mean to have a really strong finish this time at New Hampshire, where you’re leading laps and in contention?
“It would mean a lot. From a personal standpoint, I feel like New Hampshire is a place I’ve struggled at, but I’ve also put in a lot of work to get better there. So to be able to see results come would obviously be satisfying. And then with everything kind of going on right now, not having a job for next year and with our team shutting down at the end of the year, I really feel like I’m auditioning every single week, especially these next three, four or five weeks. Loudon is in that stretch, so I need to go up there and have a good run and prove my worth in the sport.”
New Hampshire represents the only NASCAR Cup Series race in New England. Can you feel the sense of excitement fans have when the Cup Series comes to this region?
“It’s always cool to go up to New Hampshire, just due to the fact that the turnout we get up there is always massive. The fan base there is so motorsports hungry – they love motorsports in that part of the country. They have regional NASCAR series between modifieds and stuff like that, but to have the actual Cup Series come up there, it’s their only shot to see us. They always turn out, that race is always pretty much sold out, a ton of people camp at that racetrack. I feel like that’s some of the most camping we see anywhere. It’s always cool to go up there and have the support of the race fans. It’s always cool to race in front of a big crowd. Every time we go to New Hampshire, we certainly have that.”
When you’re at a track where it’s a struggle to be consistently quick, how important is it to just clear your mind and go in with as positive an attitude as possible?
“I think you definitely have to go there with an open mindset every single time. You’ve got to believe that this time is going to be different than the last. It’s weird, in the past, I felt like in the lower series, the tracks that I just really, really struggled at have kind of turned into my best tracks in the Cup Series. I don’t know if it’s just putting in that little extra effort at those tracks or what, but when I was coming up through the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series, the three tracks that always stood out were Phoenix, Loudon and Richmond. Richmond and Loudon have turned into places where I can run top-10, and obviously Phoenix is where I was able to win my first Cup race. You just have to have an open mindset. You can’t go there already beat. You have to know that when you go there, you still have an opportunity to win. The biggest thing for me was embracing the challenge and not just saying, ‘Man, I stink here.’ When you embrace the challenge and really put your head to it, I feel like there are a lot of things you can do. Especially now, in the world that we live in, there’s just so much data to look at and comb through. I can look at every single driver in the field and see what they’re doing. When you’re coming up through the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series, we didn’t really have any of that at our disposal. So, it makes it a little bit easier to wrap your head around where you’re struggling and why.”
Was that breakthrough win at Phoenix more than just a breakthrough at that track, but also at similar tracks?
“I think so, for sure. When I talk about the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series, and even ARCA, I always talked about my biggest struggle being the flat tracks. I was always pretty good anywhere that had banking, but the flat tracks, my technique and stuff just never worked for whatever reason. Being able to put a lot of effort in at places like Phoenix, and then seeing the results – I always had to train myself to do stuff other than what I thought was natural, and I’ve been able to fine-tune that the last couple of years. It kind of just goes back to having that data at our disposal and seeing what guys like Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex and these guys who are extremely good at these flat tracks are doing, and you just try to copy that as best you can.”
What makes New Hampshire such a challenge to get around fast and consistently?
“I think what makes New Hampshire so hard is that it’s just a really, really fast racetrack. For one, you’re flying down into the corner and it is just so rough. Getting into turn three, especially, your car is just bouncing around. It’s so flat, it has no banking, and it’s got all these patches in different places and it’s just an awkward racetrack. It’s one of those places where if your car is off, it’s just a long day trying to make it do what you want it to do. With how fast we’re going and how flat it is, the car just never wants to do what you’re trying to get it to do, so it’s just a matter of trying to make it as best you can. It’s a challenge of a racetrack. It’s a hard track to wrap your head around.”
You ran Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis three weeks ago. It has a similar layout to New Hampshire and while you ran pretty well, the finish didn’t show it. Did the experience give you insights as to what to do in regard to New Hampshire?
“I think there’s definitely stuff you can take away from Gateway. I think all of the flatter tracks, you can learn something from it. Gateway’s turns three and four are somewhat similar to what the radius is at New Hampshire. I would say as far as Gateway, you definitely learn stuff at Phoenix that you can apply at Gateway, and we took some of what we learned at Phoenix and took it to Gateway and we’ll do the same at Loudon – we’ll take some of what we learned at Gateway and we’ll apply it there. I definitely think there’s something we can take from there. I don’t think it’s 100 percent, by any means, but you can take little pieces here and there.”
Your car owner, Tony Stewart, said that when he’d go run his sprint car somewhere and perform well, having success in that discipline made him better come Sunday when he got into his Cup car. You’re running a sprint car Friday night at New Hampshire’s dirt track. Is that your way of hitting the reset button, where you go into the Cup weekend refreshed?
“I definitely feel like when I go and run the sprint car that it makes everything feel slower for me in the Cup car, so that’s an advantage. But then it is just a reset for me, whether I’m driving my family stuff or for somebody else like I will at New Hampshire, it’s a fun way for me to get away from the stress. I always tell people it’s kind of like my golf game. It’s just a way for me to go and forget about everything else I’ve got going on and go hang out with some of my buddies and relax. Yeah, I’m out there trying to win, but if I run 15th or if I win, there’s no points, there’s none of that stress that comes along with it. I’m just there to have a good time and forget about everything I’ve got going on. It’ll definitely be nice to go up there. I’ll get to run with Matt Tanner, who I drove for last year up there. Just a super cool family and super laid back and relaxed and they don’t put any pressure on me. It just makes it enjoyable.”
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