New Dawn for Gene Haas as NASCAR Driver Chase Briscoe Adds to Positive F1 Development in Phoenix

When Chase Briscoe took the checkered flag in Phoenix on Sunday, he capped off an impressive weekend for his boss Gene Haas and his two teams. This is because it wasn’t just a Haas named stock car that made headlines this past week, it was also a Haas named Formula 1 car.

During the pre-season testing in Bahrain, Haas’ former driver and ‘savior’ Kevin Magnussen went fastest on his first F1 session in nearly two years. He dethroned the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz on top of the sheet with a lap that was three hundredths of a second quicker.

But then it got better.

Because the other Haas driver, Mick Schumacher, went second-fastest on the final day of testing in Bahrain. Schumacher was second only to defending champ Max Verstappen by half a second.

But then it got even better.

Chase Briscoe, a NASCAR Cup Series race winner

After his first race-win, the Stewart Haas Racing driver was emotional and excited, naturally. Briscoe revealed in his post-race interview that he was “crying the whole last lap.”

But he also gave credit to the rest of the field and other drivers.

“You get humbled really quickly in the Cup Series and learn just how good everybody is,” Briscoe said. “These guys, even who are running 30th, are some of the best race car drivers in the world. You learn really quickly you’ve got to go to work and figure it out.”

The major goal that NASCAR’s Next Gen car and F1’s new car share is to make the playing field more even, to make things more competitive. So far, it’s working pretty well in NASCAR with four different race winners in the first four races.

Let’s see how things take shape in F1 now.

Also Read: Kyle Busch Has a Very Kyle Busch Response to His Chances of Winning the NASCAR Cup Championship This Season