Chase Briscoe was quickly humiliated in his rookie season at the NASCAR Cup Series level.
Promoted to 14th at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2021 after winning nine races in the Xfinity Series the year before, Briscoe has struggled to find his footing. It hasn’t been a great year for the team, which hasn’t helped the young rider trying to settle in after being dropped into a much deeper talent pool. Now Briscoe admits that despite the fact that he thinks he’s ready for the top level of NASCAR, it’s never the case for rookies.
Four races in the 2022 season and that’s a whole different story.
“I think in terms of confidence this year, I felt like I was in the right place,” Briscoe said Sunday after winning at Phoenix Raceway. “Last year you were very wide open. You’re competing against guys you’ve watched on TV for years and looked up to. Now I don’t look at car 18 and think, “Oh, that’s Kyle Busch.” It’s just car number 18, another guy.
“I think that confidence has come a long way. Clearly, trust grows with results. I feel like I belong. And especially now that I’m winning, I feel like I’ve proved that I belong in the Cup Series… To constantly run ahead and lead the laps is, of course, a special thing.
Briscoe didn’t win in Phoenix, but flexed his muscles on what he says is his worst race track. The final stage (127 laps) was entirely Briscoe as he led 82 of them. In total, Briscoe completed 101 of the 312 laps of the race.
The victory adds confidence to the start of the season for Briscoe and company, who are now tied for fourth place in the standings. While Daytona and Phoenix were high-scoring weekends, he was relevant in all races this season.
A car helps him. Briscoe looked much more comfortable behind the wheel of the Next Gen car than in his predecessor.
“Winning the race is definitely a relief,” said Briscoe. “You can run second, third, but people want a winner at the end of the day. You must win races to stay here. This is not a guarantee. This may be my only victory. I hope not, but hopefully it shows that I was capable of being at that level. But you still have to keep working.
“There are 39 more guys who will try to be the best next week. We just have to keep doing our best. We were very fast and I felt like (on Sunday) we had put together a whole race. Now we have proved to ourselves that we can do it, and I think it takes a lot of struggle and self-confidence.”