From winning the ARCA Menards Series championship to cracking a top-tier Cup Series seat – Chase Briscoe is paving a marvelous career in motorsports. The 30-year-old speedster is the hot topic on the block, especially because he is replacing Martin Truex Jr.’s seat in Joe Gibbs Racing. As the 2017 Cup Series champion hangs up his firesuit, Briscoe will don it for the No. 19 Toyota next season. So let us delve into his background a little bit before Briscoe starts breathing fire in 2025.

Who is Chase Briscoe?

The tradition of racing runs deep in his family. Chase Briscoe kicked off his racing career around dirt tracks in Mitchell, Indiana. His grandfather Richard Briscoe was a renowned sprint car team owner, who has worked with famous drivers like Chuck Amati, Dave Blaney, Dick Gaines, and others. His father Kevin Briscoe was also an ace – he raced sprint cars for over 20 years and won over 150 feature events. Although Kevin did not initially allow him to race, he eventually gave in just to spend time together. Chase wheeled sprint cars on the feisty bullrings of the Midwest since he was 13. He also drove 410 sprint cars – which happens to be the most powerful class of open-wheel dirt racing.

Briscoe had a trip down memory lane in November when he posted a video from 2002. We can see a little Chase Briscoe seated in front of a computer and a small Thrustmaster steering wheel. He emotionally recollected: “Are flashback Fridays still a thing? Found this on my phone earlier and brought back a lot of fun memories. Practically every day I’d wear my Tony Stewart Home Depot uniform and helmet and play Dirt Track Racing Sprint Cars on the computer, fun times.” Briscoe was a Tony Stewart fanboy, and when he got the opportunity to race for Stewart-Haas Racing, he made the most of it.

From beating Jeff Gordon’s record to winning Cup Series races: Chase Briscoe’s racing exploits

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The journey of a legend starts with tiny steps. Chase Briscoe won his first heat race in a quarter midget in 2001. By 13, he had moved to mini sprints and then 410 sprint cars. During a 37-start rookie season in 410 sprint cars, Briscoe racked up eight top-five and 17 top-10 finishes. He won the last race during that fateful season. He became the youngest person to win a 410 sprint car race, thereby breaking four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon’s record.

By age 19, dimming finances put a strain on Chase Briscoe’s racing ambition. But his spirit was the same. After moving to Charlotte in 2014, he slept on friends’ couches and air mattresses, worked for free, and ventured beyond his comfort zone to usher in new opportunities. And he did – during his 2016 ARCA Menards break, he picked up 6 victories and even clinched the championship. Subsequently, he kept rising – Briscoe entered the Craftsman Truck Series in 2017. Yet his Xfinity stint brought the most dazzling streak. In 2020, Briscoe won 9 Xfinity victories, with the last one at Kansas Speedway.

Chase Briscoe won the Cup Series Rookie of the Year honors in 2021. Then in 2022, he immediately found success with his first Cup win at Phoenix Raceway. He also secured his spot in the Playoffs for the first time. Briscoe earned his first Cup Series pole at Gateway International Raceway on June 4. Now, the stud is set to bid adieu to his first Cup Series team.

Why is Chase Briscoe leaving Stewart-Haas Racing?

His career-best performance during the Covid season earned Chase Briscoe a spot at NASCAR’s top level. He took over Stewart-Haas Racing‘s No. 14 Ford in 2021, which was first driven by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart. Yet Briscoe had dazzled even in his 2018 debut – he won the inaugural race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval on just his 14th Xfinity start. He observed how his earlier sprint car exploits helped him. “It drove like a dirt track instead of a road course, and it felt like I was in a sprint car.” Overall, he picked up 11 Xfinity wins and 2 Cup Series victories under the team.

However, this fruitful relationship had to screech to an end, as Tony Stewart announced the shuttering of his 16-year-old legacy team in May 2024. As SHR bade adieu to its glittering journey, it also bade goodbye to its drivers – but Chase Briscoe was not ready to let it go without a bang. He won the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway this year to punch his ticket into the Cup Series playoffs. This was an apt tribute to the team which nurtured him into the fantastic racer he is today.

Will Chase Briscoe be able to fill in the shoes of Martin Truex Jr.?

Well, that is a tricky question. Martin Truex Jr. is a veteran driver with 19 years of experience. Although he could not make much headway in the first 13 years of his career, his time came after joining Furniture Row Racing in 2014. Truex picked up 17 victories under that team, including the 2017 Cup Series championship. His tenure at JGR began in 2019, and Truex picked up 15 victories for Gibbs. So as this future Hall of Famer retires, Chase Briscoe knows he has some big shoes to fill. Besides, Briscoe was a Ford driver, and making the transition to Toyota may prove to be difficult.

Yet Joe Gibbs, as a former football coach and an NFL Hall of Famer, knows whom he ropes into his team. He showered praises on Briscoe for his phenomenal Xfinity season in 2020. “When you hear his story. There was a miracle in there really that happened for him to get a chance for that Xfinity year.” Briscoe recalls his dad bumping into the Highpoint CEO outside a Buffalo Wild Wings in Las Vegas, which led to him securing a much-needed sponsor for his Xfinity car in 2020.

Besides believing in a miracle, Gibbs also relied on the advice of Christopher Bell, Briscoe’s old friend and new teammate. “(Bell) had a great way of describing him to me. He compared him to two other drivers that are in the sport. And he said this is where he is, and he compared him to somebody. I won’t give you the name, but he said, ‘This is the kind of guy I think you’re getting.’ And I thought it was really enlightening for me. I know I’ll always remember that. We’ll see. We’ll see if he’s right.”

Yes, we will see whether Chase Briscoe can live up to Joe Gibbs’ expectations or not. Yet with his star-studded resume, the answer may be obvious already.