In 2024, Joe Gibbs put his faith in Chase Briscoe to replace Martin Truex Jr. Briscoe, who was then at SHR, had shown glimpses of his talent here and there, but nothing exclusively stood out. However, in his very first season at JGR, he not only rewarded Gibbs’ faith but also immediately contended for the best driver crown at his new organization. But in 2026, it is turning out to be a very different story for Briscoe, and he’s aware of it.
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Chase Briscoe is the worst Joe Gibbs Racing driver in points, but he has a plan
Briscoe opened his JGR career with a 4th-place finish at Daytona in 2025. He followed that with 21st at Atlanta, 14th at COTA, and 35th in Phoenix. This was not an ideal start for him, but somehow, this season has been worse.
The results of his first four races are 36th, 2nd, 37th, and 37th. Moreover, he is currently sitting 33rd in points, which is concerning on its own but even more so considering the new points-focused Chase championship format.
It’s also worth mentioning that Briscoe is inferior to Ty Gibbs this season. Gibbs, who is the grandson of Joe Gibbs, has two top 5 finishes in the last two races, which have put him in 15th place in the standings.
Having said that, all hope is not lost for Chase Briscoe. In a recent interview with Jeff Gluck, the #19 driver opened up on a way he can save his season amid the current state of affairs.
“James Small (crew chief), actually, he had sent me some data and analytics on stuff the other day. And I think if we average 37 points a race from now until the end of the regular season, there is like a 7% chance you would still finish in the top three. And in the playoffs last year, with a DNF and finishing like 19th at Phoenix, we averaged 39.8 points. So yeah, it’s certainly not out of the equation,” Briscoe described.From the new edition of the Gluckcast: Teams have calculated how many points per race are needed to achieve their goals and updating drivers as it moves each week. @chasebriscoe and @shanevg97 explain: pic.twitter.com/SdV6qjvycC
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) March 12, 2026
But to achieve that also, Chase Briscoe knew that he would have to be running and finishing ‘really, really good.’
Denny Hamlin on how Briscoe can save his season
Speaking on Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin mentioned how Chase Briscoe can save his season and have a shot at making it to the Chase. Hamlin, who was one of the three drivers who competed against Briscoe for the championship in Phoenix last season, is currently in 12th place on the points table.
He is the second-best JGR driver so far this season, ahead of Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe, but behind Christopher Bell. But as for Briscoe salvaging his season, Hamlin said he’ll have to ‘get hot’ in the upcoming races.
“If he goes, and he wins two of the next five races and stacks some top 5s and 10s in the other ones, I think we’re talking, ‘look at this charge he just made; he’s only 100 out of the points lead.’ [It’s] a little too early for that,” Hamlin said on Actions Detrimental.
It’s worth mentioning that last season, Briscoe’s first win came at Pocono. In fact, he has only once in his Cup career so far won in the early stages of the season. That win came at Phoenix in 2022.
So in many ways, Briscoe would have to do something he hasn’t done before to save his season from going down in a spiral while his three teammates make it to the Chase.