First, let me get this out of the way in which: I haven’t got a bone to select with my cheese brisco. Quite the opposite, in actual fact.
Round this time final yr, I had the chance to interview Briscoe for the primary time, and I walked away from our dialog so impressed by his sincerity, humility, and keenness for his job as the driving force of Automobile #14. Stewart-Haas Racing stronghold.
I used to be additionally grateful that Briscoe — who had develop into a father for the primary time only a few months in the past — appeared actually amused and stated he might deal with the mess in our home when our smoke detector went off in the midst of the telephone interview, forcing me to complete the dialog outdoors (by the way in which, it was That is the primary time in almost 20 years as a journalist.)
So my compliments to Briscoe for being a superb sport and, as I can greatest say, a devoted competitor and an honest all-round human being. The respect and private affinity I’ve for Briscoe does not make him Eligible for a multi-year contract extension However he obtained it final week from Stewart-Haas Racing.
And in a second, you will discover out why.
Chase Briscoe’s 2022 season, whereas enhancing, has not been a murals
as a newbie NASCAR cup collection driver 2021, Chase Briscoe He struggled arduous – as newcomers so typically do – to run up entrance with any diploma of consistency.
However Briscoe’s struggles had been greater than a facet impact of the inevitable rising pains that include the soar from the NASCAR Xfinity Sequence to the NASCAR Cup Sequencea soar Briscoe created from 2020 to 2021.
The cruel actuality is that Briscoe has surprised the present as a World Cup newcomer, posting no prime 5 and scoring simply three prime 10s in 36 begins on the way in which to twenty third.Analysis and growth– Finish level. That is regardless of competing for considered one of Stewart-Haas Racing’s prime Cup Sequence groups and driving a automotive—the No. 14 SHR machine—that his boss, Tony Stewart, drove to a Cup Sequence championship in 2011 and 16 NASCAR premiere wins earlier than handing the wheel to Clint Bowyer in 2017.
He was very poor Briscoe’s first-year efficiency As an entrant in NASCAR’s prime division, he led solely 18 of the 8,872 laps he accomplished. Clearly, these sorts of numbers – in the event that they develop into a sample – will not minimize the long-term mustard in SHR, so Briscoe goes into the 2022 season needing an enormous enchancment…or else.
Effectively, Briscoe’s efficiency has improved in 2022. However was that basically sufficient to advantage a multi-year contract extension that might, in all chance, embody a major pay enhance?
Stewart-Haas Racing didn’t have to just accept the re-signing of Chase Briscoe
The 2022 Cup Sequence season began with a bang for Chase Briscoe as he walked out of the gate with a top-3 end on the Daytona 500.
Then, over the following a number of weeks, Briscoe continued to impress, even scoring a Cup Sequence #1 win in convincing trend at Phoenix Raceway in March.
However by the point spring and summer season rolled round, Briscoe started performing with a really mediocre and at instances downright weak clip that was harking back to his rookie season. How dangerous is Brisco? From mid-April by means of mid-September, it scored each single prime 10 end and dropped to 18thy so as.
Briscoe himself acknowledged this hunch on a name with reporters following final week’s announcement of a contract extension.
“It is no secret that we began the season sturdy final yr, and over the summer season it wasn’t there besides for 2 or three races, after which qualifying went again to the place we had been at the beginning of the yr,” Briscoe stated. “So, I really feel like 99.9 % of this was me and I did not accumulate races. good collectively. If I had a Fifteenth-place automotive that day, I would attempt to win the race with a Fifteenth-place automotive, and at that stage, it would not try this.”
This can be a pretty easy admission that begs an apparent query: Does Briscoe actually deserve a multi-year contract extension with SHR, one of many Cup Sequence’ prime organizations?
As Briscoe alluded to within the assertion above, he turned the nook considerably in qualifying, and – largely resulting from different drivers’ misfortune – one way or the other managed to make it to Spherical of 8. However of the 16 authentic playoff drivers, just one completed the season with fewer prime 10 drivers than Briscoe. And that lone driver — rookie Austin Cindrick — greater than made up for his dearth of top-10 finishes by successful the Daytona 500.
So are Briscoe’s modest enhancements from yr one to yr two within the Cup actually sufficient to justify extending his contract? In all probability not, particularly when you concentrate on it Ross ChastainAnd Daniel Suarezand Alex Bowman are all coming into into contracts with their organizations and may very well be accessible for SHR previous to the 2024 season.
Sure, SHR nonetheless has one and perhaps even two seats to fill for 2024, even with Briscoe re-signed, however Briscoe’s numbers over two seasons within the Cup Sequence recommend the corporate is led by the three-time Cup Sequence champion Tony Stewart He might have performed loads higher.