This weekend is the big one for Chase Briscoe.
A native Hoosier, and the son of affable Sprint Car racer Kevin Briscoe, the Mitchell, Indiana export has wanted to win the Brickyard 400 above every other race on the schedule. The annual NASCAR race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, back on the super oval for a second consecutive season after a three-year road course hiatus, is the race at a formative Briscoe had the most childhood affinity for as well.
On Friday, Briscoe told the story about showing up to the track for the first time as a seven-year-old and all the ways it left an impact on him. He showed up in a fire suit to tour the IMS Museum as part of a visit with his family.
“Usually, everybody would show up in a plain uniform, it’d all be one color and when you drive out of that tunnel at (turns) 1 and 2, there’s that brick building right there and there was this guy, Jim Bob Luger and he did embroidery,” recalled Briscoe. “I was seven and that was my first time seeing this race track and I remember getting my uniform embroidered and getting name on it and coming inside the track, and that was the first time I’ve been inside the walls of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and just being in absolute awe.
“First off, of a track this big. I’ve been to dirt tracks that were a quarter of a mile and then to see this place and the grandstands, it was just unbelieve for this seven-year-old kid to see a race track of this size.”
Then his first race day experiences, where he attended the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 in 2004.
“I used to sneak in the garage area and just try to get autographs and such,” Briscoe said. “And once I got older, I was about 16 or 17, and once again, sneaking onto pit road and passing out business cards. For me now to be on the other side of the fence and being a competitor, it’s just super cool for me.
“I remember the last Brickyard 400 I came here to watch, it was probably 2013 or so, I remember sitting right here. It’s really special I’m on the other side of the fence. I look back on it, I think the biggest win of my career was sneaking in the garage, past the yellow shirts. That’s a really hard thing to do, but I was able to do it a few times. Just crazy that seven-year-old me from going to get my uniform, to now racing here in the Cup Series.”
So yeah, this is a big deal this weekend, even after winning here in the Xfinity Series on the road course. This is bigger and it’s bigger than all the other big ones too.
“I think every race car driver dreams of racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, especially winning,” Briscoe said. “I would say it’s different from myself (compared) to them. For me, I’d put the Brickyard 400 over the Daytona 500 from a personal standpoint, but I’m probably the only one who feels that way because I’m from Indiana whereas those guys just want to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But yeah, I definitely think when you look at the majors, this is one of the four. There’s a reason everyone wants to win here so bad.”
And even though he isn’t quite bought in yet, conventional wisdom paints Briscoe as a potential favorite to win on Sunday. For one, he is starting to come into his own in his first season at Joe Gibbs Racing and won earlier this season at similarly unique Pocono Raceway.
Again, he isn’t buying in fully yet.
“I mean, if you say, ‘pick a track most similar to Indianapolis,’ Pocono is the only one you could draw slight comparisons to but it’s still so drastically different,” Briscoe said. “Just because you’re good at Pocono, doesn’t mean here (Indianapolis) and vice versa. I don’t think that made a lot of difference for me.
“More so, it’s just I’m in a JGR car and they’re stuff is honestly good everywhere we go. I was proud to run one Brickyard 400 in the No. 14 car. For me, that was a dream come true for myself, but I’d much rather win the race. It was going to be an uphill battle at SHR (Stewart-Haas Racing) and it’s no secret our stuff was off and not where it needed to be. Now coming here and to one of the powerhouse organizations, I know I’m going to be in the mix just like everywhere else we go. So, feel like where a lot of the belief comes from.”
Speaking of Stewart-Haas Racing and the former driver of the flagship No. 14 once piloted to a championship by its eponymous former owner and Briscoe’s childhood hero, the Cup Series contender reached out to his old mentor earlier in the week too.
Winning this race the way ‘Smoke’ did in 2005 and 2007 has been on his mind.
“I actually texted Tony this week about that,” Briscoe said. “We went to the new museum, and they had that 2005 car over there and I took a picture of it, and I sent it to him and said hopefully another Hoosier can win 20 years later. So yeah, it would be super, super special.
“I mean, it would be nothing like it for me just from a personal standpoint than to win this race so yeah, we’ve had a lot of really good momentum these last couple weeks and hopefully you know we just the one spot better this weekend. I definitely will be giving it everything I’ve got for sure.”
Briscoe has been thinking about this weekend a lot.
Last week, after completing an Indianapolis simulator session before the race at Dover last week, Briscoe entertained what it would be like to win like Stewart had too.
“Honestly, I had just got done with Indy sim, so I was just driving home and running the laps through my head,” Briscoe said. “I’ve never really thought about winning a race before but it was just you know kind of like imagining what it would be like to win here and to do it in the Brickyard 400 and I’d watched Tony’s race the night before like you just randomly on YouTube and you’re just watching his celebration and everything.
“I just kind of put myself in that moment. As an Indiana guy is just different like I don’t know how to explain it but yeah, just thought about it, I mean, it was a quick 20 second thought but yeah, I just got goosebumps as I was driving down the road thinking about it. I’ve never thought about winning a race before, so hopefully we can do it. Like I keep saying, it would just be so special to me to win here and do it in the Brickyard 400. I think some of the reason – I’ve probably thought about it a little bit more. Last year, was the only Brickyard 400 I’ve actually ran, but I knew going into it that my shots of winning it just probably wasn’t very high because of the equipment and everything, where now, I feel like I have a real, legitimate shot. It just kind of put things into perspective a little bit more.”
