AVONDALE, Ariz. – When Chase Briscoe made the move to powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing ahead of the 2025 season, naturally, he knew there would be a transitional phase. But by the end of summer, he felt the No. 19 team was capable of making it to the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway.
The opening couple of months were sluggish for Briscoe. The No. 19 team scored just one top-10 finish through the opening five races of the season, placing fourth in the Daytona 500. Then came three top 10 finishes in a four-race period.
It took until the Coca-Cola 600 in May for Briscoe to feel comfortable driving a JGR car. Placing third in the crown-jewel event unleashed a summer run by Briscoe that was highlighted by scoring his first win with the No. 19 team at Pocono Raceway by stretching his fuel tank. He fended off JGR teammate and Pocono master Denny Hamlin.
Three weeks later at Sonoma Raceway, Briscoe was best in class to road-course stud Shane van Gisbergen. He followed that with a runner-up finish at Dover Motor Speedway and another second-place result at Iowa Speedway as Regular Season Champion William Byron earned his second victory of the season. With the postseason looming, that run of races is where Briscoe realized he was capable of making it to Phoenix Raceway for the Championship 4.
“At that point we still didn’t even feel close to our full potential,” Briscoe stated on Thursday at Championship 4 Media Day. “We were running top five every race throughout the whole race, just getting finishes. Everything was just starting to click.
“I felt like if we kept building that to the Playoffs, we were going to be in a really good spot. Throughout the Playoffs, I still don’t feel like we’re at 100% per se, but we’re way closer now than we were in August. I would say around that three-week stretch is where it was like there’s really potential here to make a run at that.”
Adjusting to being a frequently contending driver has been an adjustment period for Briscoe. The No. 19 team logs hours on the simulator, a far cry from previous seasons with Martin Truex Jr. In his prior four Cup seasons, he saw himself as being a 10th- to 20th-place driver. The mindshift changed though he isn’t doing anything differently behind the wheel.
“You feel like you’re proving a lot of people wrong in a sense,” Briscoe said of his consistency. “Even my competitors, I felt like at that point they’re not surprised to see me up there, but I’m not one of the normal regulars. Now, I feel like they race me differently just because I’m up there kind of consistently week in, week out. Even just going to the racetrack, more people are wearing my stuff than I’ve ever seen before, more people recognize me. That part’s been different, for sure.”
Briscoe kicked off the 2025 Playoffs in grand fashion, leading 309 of 367 laps in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. He finished runner-up the following week at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and swept top 10s in the Round of 16 with a ninth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Despite starting the playoffs with five consecutive top 10s, the No. 19 team didn’t solidify its spot into the Round of 8 until the cutoff race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course was complete. He began the semifinal round with a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, losing the lead to Hamlin in the final handful of laps. One week later at Talladega Superspeedway, Briscoe punched his Championship 4 ticket by passing Bubba Wallace for the lead on the final lap en route to victory.
“Just kind of the perfect storm,” Briscoe said of his run to the Championship 4. “I had a couple of years of experience in Cup. Somewhat competitive equipment. Now it gave me the opportunity to obviously come over in elite equipment and show me what I’m capable of.”
Entering Championship Weekend, Briscoe feels little pressure, believing that “nobody really expected us to be here anyway.” While all four drivers have previously won at Phoenix, only Briscoe and Byron have won in the Sonoran Desert with the Next Gen car. The Indiana native scored his first victory here in 2022.
Regardless of what happens on Sunday, Briscoe has had a successful first season with JGR.
“I would say exceeded expectations for year one, for sure,” Briscoe added. “It would mean a lot to do it in year one with Coach (Joe Gibbs) obviously taking a chance on me. Just to start our tenure off together winning a championship would be pretty cool. It would certainly make the expectations going forward way harder.”
Among the Championship 4 drivers, Briscoe leads them all in most statistical metrics. He has the most top fives (five) and top 10s (seven), laps led (562) and best average finish (9.1). He has finished better than the other three drivers six times in 2025.