Briscoe returns to Southern 500 facing different must-win

This will be the third time that Chase Briscoe has raced in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs but this time is different.

He is expected to compete and contend for a championship.

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

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.

“I was telling my wife that couple weeks ago, that this is really the first time I’ve ever legitimately thought I could win a Cup championship,” Briscoe said during NASCAR Playoff Media Day in Uptown Charlotte on Wednesday. “In the past, you make the Playoffs and it’s exciting, but down deep you kind of know that the odds of you winning are pretty slim, right?

“Whereas now, not to say that I’m 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.”

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.

“We’ve finished second a lot, but the one was to (Shane Van Gisbergen, Sonoma) and that one, I don’t think I could have won unless something crazy happened to him,” Briscoe said. “The Dover race, I definitely think I could have potentially won, but it was very high risk of wrecking myself and I don’t remember where the other one was where we finished second (Iowa) but I’m sure there is a chance to win that one potentially too.

“Yeah, don’t know. If you keep putting yourself in those positions, you’re going to win more races. And the good thing is, we’re in position. It’s 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’ll eventually go our way.”

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’s no longer good enough in the big picture.

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’t totally the expectation but he wants to still be active in the hunt come the penultimate race at Martinsville.

“Yeah, I mean we need to go and perform in the Playoffs, right,” Briscoe said. “That’s 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, ‘man, that was a disappointing season.’ They were still excited they made the Playoffs.

“Where here (Joe Gibbs Racing), it’s almost like if you don’t make the Round of 8, that’s kind of a failure on the year and really the final four even, right? It’s just a different mentality. For me, think we’re 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’s just a matter of putting the whole race together.”

Briscoe said he has the potential of Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell but it’s just a matter of executing the way their teams do.

“They’re 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,” Briscoe said. “I think as I get better in understanding and getting more experience, that’ll be better for me. But yeah, I’m glad we were able to win a race and make the Playoffs, but now that we’re here, we need to do something about it.”

If Briscoe is to make the final four, it’s 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.

Come a certain point, Briscoe is going to have to win.

“I would love to have more Playoff points,” Briscoe said. “I’m confident that we can get to that Round of 8, but once you get to the Round of 8, at our points deficit, there’s a chance you’re going to almost have to win the race. Somebody’s going to be able to point their way into the final four, but realistically for us, it’s probably not going to be an option.

“We’re already starting 20-30 points behind, so that’s 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.”

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.

“I feel like we need to go win it just to lock into the next round,” Briscoe said. “It’s different (because) your back was up against the wall when it’s the last race of the regular season and you’re not going to race for a championship if you don’t win but being in the playoffs this year, it’s the same feeling — that you have to go perform. …

“It’s not a must-win and if I’m running sixth, I don’t 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.

“Hopefully, I can go there and back up what we were able to do last year but it’s going to be different. Everything changes throughout the year. Setups are different, tires are different, track will age, and it’ll be a challenge for sure.”