Chase Briscoe’s Flawless Darlington Win Puts Entire NASCAR Garage on Notice

“Certainly, the higher the pressure, the better I feel like I do.” The immense pressure bearing down on Chase Briscoe ahead of the Southern 500 took many forms. Despite being the 2024 Southern 500 winner, Briscoe was not on top of most prediction models, which projected Denny Hamlin or Kyle Larson as potential winners. Additionally, he had to prove his mettle in his first playoff run with Joe Gibbs Racing. And he overcame each and every bout of pressure.

In winning the Cook Out Southern 500, Chase Briscoe re-established himself as a contender on the same level as his teammates. Now, however, a new narrative has entered Briscoe’s 2025 season – is a potential Bill France trophy on the radar? That is what a lot of NASCAR insiders believe.

Chase Briscoe’s rivals need to be on guard

For the No. 19 JGR driver, it has been a gradual process of adaptation. After transitioning from the Ford team, Stewart-Haas Racing, Chase Briscoe took some time to adjust to Toyota. The 19 team had just one top 10 through the first five races and struggled in practice and qualifying early in the year. They also just had three starts inside the top 10 through the first 12 events. However, the team’s light flickered into life after solid efforts at camaraderie and a well-executed race at Kansas Speedway. Since then, Briscoe and his team have been unstoppable. He became the first driver to ever win pole awards in the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, and Brickyard 400 during the same year – already a ludicrous stat.

So, with Chase Briscoe absolutely dominating the playoff opener – leading 309 of 367 laps – he is a hot topic in the championship conversation. In a recent episode of ‘Door, Bumper, Clear’, Freddie Kraft compared Briscoe’s stats with those of his predecessor, 2017 Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. And it was jaw-dropping: “You look at the numbers this year, for Chase – 6 poles, which is ridiculous. If he doesn’t screw up 3 and 4 a little bit the other day, it’s going to be 7. He killed everybody in qualifying this week. Two wins, 11 top fives this year. You go back and look at Martin’s the last couple of years, he had 14 top fives combined the last two years – he had 5 last year, no wins, no polls. He’s jumped in this thing and is actually outperforming Martin, who was a championship contender year in and year out.”

What is more, TJ Majors directly pitched Chase Briscoe as a possible championship contender. He just needs to continue his amazing streak with his invincible team rapport. Majors said, “Chase has had a lot of speed this year. I do wonder if the consistency can stay there all through the playoffs …I feel like he’s developing a lot this year, and he’s taking advantage of it. Him and James and the crew are really getting their stride…When that race comes around, when he’s an 8th place car, he just needs to run 8th and try to get 5th or 6th, and not try to force something that could get himself in trouble. If he can do that, manage them situations, Chase can really make a deep run into the playoffs.” 

Clearly, Chase Briscoe is making waves in the NASCAR garage. He attributes this positive growth in his career to a particular bond, no matter its idiosyncrasies.

Briscoe builds a shield around his closest colleague

James Small previously worked with Martin Truex Jr., and the duo was known for their friendly fights. Truex frequently sparred with Small’s infamous no-nonsense attitude, being a straight shooter in any kind of dilemma. Adjusting to this personality was seen as a challenge for Chase Briscoe at first. However, Small’s manner of guidance was perfect for Briscoe after his ejection from Stewart-Haas. Small’s knack for getting to the point clicked with Briscoe, and the duo immediately started to see results. They made a vow to beat Briscoe’s teammates like Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell, and soon accrued results. Two wins, 10 top fives, and 12 top tens have already arrived at their doorstep.

And these achievements have been possible despite James Small’s foreign accent and unique demeanour. Chase Briscoe praised his crew chief for these traits recently: “James’ vocabulary is definitely unique. I guess it’s just the Australian lingo…Some words that they say all the time there that we don’t say here, which I’ve definitely heard a lot. My favorite was actually last week, he came over the radio and we had like these code words.” He continued, “For James, that’s just how he talks. It’s not like he’s coming off to be rude or anything. That’s just his natural demeanor and how he talks. And yeah, it definitely can get taken out of context a lot of the time.”

With a robust crew chief and a strong JGR team, the sky is the limit for Chase Briscoe. We can only wait and see what kind of magic he conjures in the following races.