Following the announcement of Stewart Haas Racing leaving the sport at the end of 2024, their driver, Chase Briscoe has landed on his feet, securing a ride at Joe Gibbs Racing. Despite him being linked to another Ford team through rumors, it was JGR and Toyota who came to his rescue. When we look at driver moves like these, a lot goes on there than meets the eye. And most of the time, it’s the sponsor’s money that controls these moves. This, however, wasn’t the case with the 29-year-old.

It is a no-brainer that to run a NASCAR team, you need money. That is why we often hear about drivers being backed by sponsors, making them a favorite candidate for a racing organization.

You’d surely remember the uncertainty that Kyle Busch, one of the most popular drivers in NASCAR, faced in 2022, just because his primary sponsor M&M’s decided to leave the sport.

Coming back to Briscoe, the 2016 ARCA Racing Series Champion has a robust lineup of sponsors supporting his racing prospects. Still, he wasn’t under pressure to convince his current partners to stick by him during his move to JGR. Rather, it was as simple as JGR wanting to replace their experienced veteran Martin Truex Jr with someone capable, who happened to be Chase Briscoe.

EssentiallySports, the official media partners of Real American Beer at Pocono, got to know more about this transaction while we covered the race live and talked to Cup stars like Briscoe.

Why JGR is the perfect home for Chase Briscoe?

Front Row Motor Sports and Wood Brothers Racing were the two Ford outfits that were initially linked with the SHR driver. However, knowing that he is an experienced driver, backed by good partners, both the teams were expecting him to retain them for the 2025 season.

At the time of announcing his move to JGR, Briscoe said, “Out of all the teams I met with, Joe was the only team that never said, ‘What can you bring?’”

Building on this, in an exclusive interview with Bharat Aggarwal of EssentiallySports, Briscoe stated, “I feel like they want me for me and not the sponsors I can bring, right? Where in this sport, a lot of the time, I feel like decisions get made based off who can bring money and who can bring sponsorship. So, the confidence (that) comes along with the fact that a team, the caliber of JGR just wants me for me, is a lot.”

Although JGR is fine with Briscoe not bringing the sponsorship money, he might just be able to retain a few big partners on the back of a strong finish in 2024. “We still have a great opportunity here as well. So, we need to try to maximize it. You know, #14 car is really special to me, and I would love to get it back in victory lane. So that’s what we are trying to do,” he added.

Mahindra Tractors, High Point Racing, and Rush Truck Centers are the key sponsors that have backed the No. 14 team.

All said and done, it is still surprising to see that JGR didn’t put funds as their first priority. Seems like they are in a completely different place compared to Briscoe’s last home. While SHR’s “future as an organization was in doubt,” JGR seems to be quite confident about where it stands. Needless to say, this will be quite a move for the Indiana native.

Or if we think about it, perhaps this was possible because Joe Gibbs and Co. managed to keep a hold of Bass Pro Shops with the #19 team, despite MTJ hanging up his boots at the end of 2024.

Safe to say, everything pretty much worked out for both parties. Chase Briscoe has found a new competitive team that will help him reach his career goals. Whereas, Joe Gibbs Racing found a perfect candidate to lead the charge of the #19 team.

We agree that MTJ would leave some pretty big shoes to fill. But there are plenty of reasons to bet on Briscoe. In case you didn’t know, at 13, he became the youngest driver to win a 410 sprint car race, beating Jeff Gordon’s record by one year. Seems like the guy is on the right track. There is no reason to believe he won’t contribute to JGR like Truex has done in six years.