Did You Notice? … Eighteen months ago, Chase Briscoe found himself facing an uncertain future with the announcement Stewart-Haas Racing would cease operations at the end of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Now, he’s two weeks away from a title he never could have expected this quickly: Cup champion.
Briscoe’s launch into the Championship 4 after Talladega Superspeedway put a renewed focus on the chance Joe Gibbs Racing took with his career, choosing him to replace a retiring Martin Truex Jr. in June 2024. Just one season into their partnership, it’s clear it was a Silly Season gamble worth taking.
There have been other moves this season in Cup which turned out to be moderately successful. Ryan Preece is having the best season of his career with RFK Racing. Michael McDowell has quietly earned a career-high three top-five finishes with Spire Motorsports. Josh Berry made the playoffs in his first season running for Wood Brothers Racing.
Then, there’s Shane van Gisbergen, head-and-shoulders above all three with a rookie record five wins in his first full season running Cup. But SVG’s record on ovals, while improving, still remains a roadblock to his long-term success in the championship. Without the automatic bid to the playoffs, keep in mind he wouldn’t have enough points to crack the top 20 in points, as road courses make up less than 20% of the overall season schedule.
That’s where Briscoe edges SVG out. In fact, he’s accomplished three things in his first-year tenure at JGR no one could have anticipated. The first one is simple: a career year that obliterated all his accomplishments in NASCAR up to this point.
Let’s break this one down. With two races left, Briscoe has 15 top-five finishes. Not only is that tops in the Cup Series, it’s more than twice as many top fives than any season of Briscoe’s Cup career. In fact, during his first four years with Stewart-Haas Racing, Briscoe earned a grand total of 13 top fives.
I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who had Briscoe leading the series in top fives on their bingo card. But that’s not all. He’s got a series-best seven poles, more than triple the two he earned during his time with SHR. We could go on and on with these career-defining numbers: Briscoe has a shot at 1,000 laps led (881) when he’d averaged just 131 during his first four years in Cup. His three wins have more than doubled his career total, coming at three different track types.
It all adds up to an evolution from future prospect to present title contender, something that’s become harder to do when top-tier rides at Hendrick Motorsports, JGR and Team Penske have become relatively stable. Getting one was no guarantee Briscoe was going to be successful either; just take a look at Ty Gibbs.
But that’s the second area where this signing has made a major impact: reviving the confidence and charisma around the No. 19 team at JGR. Despite having a championship driver in Truex, the chemistry there had soured ever-so-gradually since James Small took over the crew chief position in 2020.
Here’s the last six seasons at the No. 19 team on paper.
| Year | Driver | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | Poles | Avg Finish | Champ 4? |
| 2020 | Truex | 1 | 14 | 23 | 0 | 11.7 | No |
| 2021 | Truex | 4 | 13 | 20 | 0 | 12.0 | Yes |
| 2022 | Truex | 0 | 4 | 15 | 1 | 14.9 | No |
| 2023 | Truex | 3 | 9 | 17 | 3 | 13.3 | No |
| 2024 | Truex | 0 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 17.4 | No |
| 2025 | Briscoe | 3 | 15 | 19 | 7 | 11.8 | Yes |
As we delve into these results, consider a few things. Gibbs was begging Truex to stick around for at least one more season, concerned about the prospect of replacing him despite an aging roster. The eight wins Truex earned during this stretch were a big reason why, with that number in range of Christopher Bell (nine) as the duo dueled behind Denny Hamlin for No. 2 on the JGR totem pole.
The entire time, their pecking order was debatable because of the large number of victories Truex and Small simply gave away. Sometimes, it was driver error … or anger … over pit strategy that blew up in their faces. It never felt, especially in 2023-24, that Truex and Small were on the same page, and you wonder if there was a 2025 with Truex present whether Small would even still be running the team.
But Briscoe was the fresh blood Small craved, two people who needed the injection of confidence their bond provided. And, boy, have they taken off. They’re on the verge of bettering Small’s best average finish at the Cup level (11.7) while winning more poles in one season than the Truex-Small partnership did in five (while keeping in mind COVID-19 rules did hinder their total).
Most importantly, their 15 top-five finishes together are a record for Small and the most for this team since Truex was paired with Cole Pearn in 2019. The consistency which had eluded the No. 19 the last few seasons, resulting in a shocking playoff miss for Truex in 2022, has returned in a big way.
Now, you look at JGR and the future is bright. Hamlin may be retiring after 2027, but there’s a long runway to find a capable replacement. Bell remains a top-tier driver with a decade-plus left to win multiple championships, should he choose to race that long. And he’s got a capable partner in crime, Briscoe at 30 years old, in position to thrive with the extended time left in front of him Truex never really had.
Which brings us to the third and final way Briscoe has uplifted JGR: a popular, outgoing personality that gives them relevance in a post-Hamlin world. For all the success Bell has had, he’s not the most talkative guy or the best on social media: he still has yet to crack 100,000 followers on X, for example, in a modern world where the ability to connect with fans carries weight.
Briscoe is already ahead of him on that front with the type of open-book window into his personal life that’s endeared him to the media (think of how candid he and wife Marissa were about their 2020 miscarriage, for example). A championship, should he eke out one at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks, would create a new level of recognition and provide more opportunities for fans, sponsors and people not aware of NASCAR recently to find him.
Is Briscoe the next Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Not quite. There’s only a handful of athletes these days that can hold all the cards, a royal flush of traits that allow them to break through in a sports world with 1,000 distractions and an NFL elephant occupying half the room. But a fan base desperate for that “good ol’ boy” roots can find some of it in him, as he is guy who moved to Charlotte with nothing and slept on a couch before his talent paved his way to the top. Briscoe drives aggressively, speaks honestly and smiles a whole lot more often than he frowns. That’s a great start.
Turns out Joe Gibbs had no reason to worry about losing Kyle Busch, Truex and soon-to-be Hamlin this decade. The next generation of Toyota’s top team will be just fine.
It’s a Silly Season move with ramifications for years to come.
Did You Notice? … Quick hits before taking off …
- The first win for Gio Ruggiero in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Talladega should be the first of many. At just 21 years old, driving for the TRICON Garage team Heim’s poised to leave behind in 2026, all the pieces are in place for a step up to title contender.
- One of the drivers he’ll have to contend with? Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, the reigning ARCA Menards Series champ who’s announced a full-time Truck deal with Kaulig and Ram next season, becoming a rookie despite turning 28 years old in November. Queen’s ascension shows two things: one, that you can still rise up in NASCAR with talent under the right circumstances (see: Josh Berry). But it’s also a growing trend of how the zMAX CARS Tour has started to become a pipeline for future talent. Queen jumped from CARS to ARCA, fueling his rise, and there’s building consensus at least two 2025 CARS full-timers will join him in the Truck Series next year. Has NASCAR finally found a link back to grassroots late model racing in order to develop talent?
Follow Tom Bowles on X @NASCARBowles
The author of Did You Notice? (Wednesdays) Tom spends his time overseeing Frontstretch’s 40+ staff members as its majority owner and Editor-in-Chief. Based outside Philadelphia, Bowles is a two-time Emmy winner in NASCAR television and has worked in racing production with FOX, TNT, and ESPN while appearing on-air for SIRIUS XM Radio and FOX Sports 1's former show, the Crowd Goes Wild. He most recently consulted with SRX Racing, helping manage cutting-edge technology and graphics that appeared on their CBS broadcasts during 2021 and 2022.
You can find Tom’s writing here, at CBSSports.com and Athlonsports.com, where he’s been an editorial consultant for the annual racing magazine for 15 years.