March 24, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Chase Briscoe's mantra: What have I done for you lately?

Chase Briscoe isn’t going to let one Cup win go to his head. 

While he enjoyed a dominant performance en route to his victory at Phoenix Raceway two weeks ago, the third-generation racer knows a driver is only as good as his last race.

Briscoe worked too hard to ascend to NASCAR’s top level behind the wheel of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. And he’s not going to become complacent now.

“Just because you won once doesn’t mean you’re safe,” Briscoe said. “I think you have to keep winning and running up front, so I think it shows you’re capable and you proved that you can get it done, but, again, getting it done once is different than getting it done 10 times. You’ve got to keep doing it and you’ve got to keep repeating and trying to be up front. I think that’s where it’s more important.  

“It’s awesome to win one race, but we want to win a lot more than one. I do think it gives you a little bit of security for a couple of weeks, but this sport is so up-and-down as far as the stock side of things go. You can win every race and then you start struggling for a couple of weeks and people start questioning you.”

Briscoe, 27, experienced the “ups and downs” last Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. After leading five laps early, he was caught up in a wreck 100 laps in. Although Briscoe rallied and appeared to be headed for a top-10 finish, he and Ryan Blaney found the wall on the white-flag lap. Briscoe ended up 15th but remains a career-best third in the Cup standings.

After a remarkable nine-win season in the Xfinity Series two years ago, Briscoe went from feast to famine during his rookie year in Cup. He understands how fickle motorsports can be.

“Look at Jimmie Johnson, the guy won seven championships,” Briscoe said.  “He’s an incredible race car driver and towards the end of his NASCAR career people thought he couldn’t drive and that’s the furthest thing from the truth. He’s still capable of going out and running up front. He didn’t forget how to drive overnight, so I think you have to keep trying to run up front just because your stock is always up-and-down, but winning is definitely nice.  

“I feel like it gets some stress off your back for a couple of weeks, but you’ve got to go to the race track the next week and continue to try and back it up.”

Briscoe describes the feeling of the new seventh-generation race car as a hybrid between the old Cup car and the Xfinity model—which first introduced a composite body back in 2017. Certainly, Briscoe’s experience driving those types of cars throughout his entire NXS run could be related to his current success. However, the driver insists SHR’s cars are just that good.

“We’ve had a lot of speed and we’ve been able to capitalize on that, where last year we never had speed a lot of the time and the races we did have speed, we didn't run up front,” Briscoe said. “We didn’t have it consistently like we’ve been able to this year so far."

And Briscoe hopes to continue that consistency this weekend when the Cup tour rolls into Circuit of the Americas—the first road course race of 2022. Briscoe finished sixth when Cup debuted at the 3.4-mile circuit last season—tying his best result of his rookie season. All three of his top-10 finishes in 2021 came on road courses. 

For a dirt-tracker from Mitchell, Indiana, Briscoe has proven to be a solid road racer. His first Xfinity win came at the inaugural Charlotte Roval race. Two years later, his second NXS road course victory came at his home track on the series' first visit to the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit. With his current momentum, Briscoe likes his chances this weekend in Austin.

“I’m really excited, truthfully, just to get this Next Gen car on a road course,” Briscoe said. “I think by themselves, when I’ve run them at the Roval, they’re a blast to run on the road course. I’m curious to see what the racing will be like. It will definitely change the landscape of these road course races. You’re gonna see a lot more guys be competitive than year’s past because you can drive this car so much harder.  It does a lot of things a lot better than the old car, so it’ll be interesting to see how that works out and plays out. 

“But I’m super excited to get out there. It looks like the weather is gonna be really good and it should be a great show.”