Chase Briscoe’s confession to wife speaks volumes | Sports News

As he prepares for his third journey to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Chase Briscoe, winner of this season’s Great American Getaway 400, has admitted that for the primary time in his profession, he genuinely believes he has a shot on the title.

A constant front-runner all through the season on the wheel of the No. 19 Toyota, Briscoe heads to the Round of 16 opener at Darlington Raceway full of optimism, thanks in no small half to his new group, Joe Gibbs Racing, the place he changed Martin Truex Jr.

“I was telling my wife that couple of weeks ago, that this is really the first time I’ve ever legitimately thought I could win a Cup championship,” he informed reporters in 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 (Stewart-Haas Racing), 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 spent the primary 4 years of his Cup Series profession with SHR earlier than they closed up store following the 2024 season, after which their three charters had been break up up between Trackhouse Racing, the Haas Factory Team, Front Row Motorsports and 23XI Racing — with the latter two presently embroiled in an more and more nasty courtroom battle versus NASCAR over its constitution settlement.

While Briscoe has solely reached victory lane as soon as this season, successful at Pocono Raceway in June, he has completed within the prime 5 a additional 9 occasions via the primary 26 races, together with as runner-up at Sonoma Raceway, Dover Motor Speedway, and Iowa Speedway.

Looking forward, Briscoe believes the bottom line is merely to ‘execute.’

“I would love to have more Playoff points,” he famous. “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. 

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“If we can do that and shorten that gap Playoff point-wise, I think it puts us in a better spot. For me, just from an execution standpoint, that’s the biggest thing and just trying to win a race these first two rounds, just trying to get more Playoff points to set us up for an easier way to that final four.”

Thankfully for Briscoe, a haul of factors within the opener at Darlington appears a sturdy chance given he’s the reigning Cook Out Southern 500 champion. The following race at World Wide Technology Raceway might show more of a problem, given his career-best end is simply seventeenth, after which all eyes will flip to the ultimate Round of 16 race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the place he completed fourth earlier this yr.