When Stewart-Haas Racing announced it would shut its garage doors for good last year, fans mourned the end of an era. Once a powerhouse led by Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, SHR brought home 2 championships, numerous checkered flags, and unforgettable moments. But somewhere along the way, the wheel started to wobble. The growing performance gap left the team limping towards its last lap in 2024, but one driver gave them the send-off they deserved.

While SHR faded into NASCAR history, Chase Briscoe delivered a stunning win in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in 2024. It was the final regular-season race, and he gave SHR one last hurrah. Now, after moving to Joe Gibbs Racing, a team with championship aspirations, Briscoe has revealed the stark difference in the way the two teams operate. And let’s just say his words aren’t exactly a glowing tribute to his former bosses.

Chase Briscoe opens up about life at SHR

The closure of Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of 2024 marked a seismic shift in NASCAR. Co-owned by Tony Stewart, a 3x Cup Series Champion, and industrialist Gene Haas, after Stewart took up the co-owner role in 2009. But burnout, fading sponsors, and the owners’ divided focus led them to pass the torch. Operating at SHR became increasingly unstable.

On the Rubbin is Racing podcast, Chase Briscoe didn’t hold back on the situation at SHR during their final years. The expectations and day-to-day presence at JGR are light-years ahead of what he saw under Stewart and Haas. Briscoe said, “Yeah, it’s been way bigger of an adjustment than I ever expected. Just the caliber and the level that Joe Gibbs Racing races at is totally different than what Stewart-Haas was. Just like the environment—you know, we have these quarterly review meetings at JGR, and we never did anything like that at SHR.” 

Joe Gibbs Racing offered Chase Briscoe the No. 19 Toyota seat after Martin Truex Jr.’s retirement. Briscoe’s results at SRH were solid, with 2 cup career wins, but elusive consistency kept the pressure on. Now, under Gibbs, he’s thriving. For top fives in 12 stars, a career-best average finish, four pole positions, and a bold Pocono win this season, locking himself into the playoffs early.

Crediting the boss, Chase Briscoe added, “And then even just having the boss around—like Coach [Joe Gibbs] is in every meeting. He’s at the racetrack every single weekend. And, you know, obviously Tony has a ton going on, right? Like he’s doing all these other things. And then Gene [Haas] also, I mean, he’s running this huge organization. So they just weren’t able to be there all the time because it wasn’t their full-time job.”

He understood the difference. Joe “Coach” Gibbs shows up every single weekend, every Monday, all year long, and for all the meetings. That intensity isn’t just additive; it’s transformative. It’s not a dig, but the subtext is stuck. SHR’s star founders couldn’t match Gibbs’s full-time focus, leaving Briscoe to work harder with less guidance. This is a sentiment even 2014 Cup Series Champion with SRH, Kevin Harvick, echoed after the team was shut down.

Harvick said in 2024, “Gene [Haas] and Tony [Stewart] were great to me, but they’re kind of hands-off owners and have people in place to do their jobs. And I think in today’s day and age, you have to have people that are involved with the authority to do what they need to do with the people and the things inside of the company to make it run properly.”

Now, despite Briscoe’s delight that Joe Gibbs was way more involved, this also meant more pressure. Especially since two of his teammates were on three wins apiece (Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin), while he was stuck on nought at one point. However, Pocono changed everything, and it was the pressure to succeed that motivated Chase, as he contrasted that with the expectations at Stewart-Haas Racing.

Briscoe said, “They talk about how—we just did one the other day—we have seven wins this year and we’re behind where we think we should be. Where Stewart-Haas, like if we would have ran in the top 10, we would have been thrilled, right? So it’s just like the expectation level is so different. That part’s been hard to get used to, truthfully.” 

Chase Briscoe is emerging as a success story while being a quiet critic of what SHR was. His rise at Joe Gibbs Racing isn’t just about horsepower or sponsors; it’s a testament to what leadership, presence, and full-time accountability can do for a driver. And that puts a clear spotlight on the contrast between NASCAR’s past and its present. Speaking of NASCAR past and present, Chase Briscoe is a strong advocate for dirt track racing. Let’s see what he has to say about it.

Briscoe pushes for more dirt racing on NASCAR schedule

The push to reintroduce dirt racing into the NASCAR Cup Series is gaining fresh traction, and Chase Briscoe is leading the charge. A driver with deep roots in grassroots dirt racing, Briscoe is using his platform to call for a return to the sport’s origins. His recent comments reflect a growing sentiment among both fans and drivers who feel that modern NASCAR could benefit from revisiting its rough-and-tumble past.

While NASCAR’s last official dirt event, held at Bristol in 2023, received mixed reactions and was dropped from future schedules, Briscoe believes dirt still deserves a place on the calendar. Speaking on the Rubbin is Racing podcast, he suggested revamping the current schedule, even naming tracks like Sonoma and New Hampshire as candidates for replacement in favor of more dynamic options like a prepaid Iowa Speedway. When asked about dirt racing specifically, Briscoe didn’t hesitate in saying, “Definitely! I definitely think we need a dirt track.” he went down to defend his hands by pointing out the versatility of today’s schedule and questioned why dirt racing isn’t represented among them.

The JGR driver said, “We run on every discipline. We have superspeedway, short track, intermediate, road course, and growing up, you’re either a road course guy, a short track racer, or a dirt racer. So, there’s no reason for me why we don’t have at least one dirt race.” This also highlighted the close relationship between sprint car racing and NASCAR, noting that many Cup drivers come from dirt backgrounds and that there’s a strong crossover fan base. Notably, 2021 Cup Series Champion Kyle Larson owns a sprint racing series, High Limit Racing! Briscoe added, “The people that are going to sprint car races are typically watching NASCAR on Sunday, and now we have a lot of NASCAR guys going back and running sprint cars. So, I definitely would love to have a dirt race.” 

Despite all the changes this season, including his move to Joe Gibbs Racing, Chase Briscoe hasn’t lost sight of his roots, as he represents a new generation of drivers who want to see NASCAR’s future stay connected to its past. What do you think of Chase Briscoe’s comments on Stewart-Haas Racing and dirt races in NASCAR? Let us know in the comments!