With the NASCAR Cup Series’ heading to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, it’ll be a homecoming for Chase Briscoe.
Briscoe, a native of Mitchell, Ind., grew up dreaming of competing at the hallowed grounds in Indianapolis, which was about an hour-and-a-half north of his hometown.
This weekend’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard will be held on the 14-turn road course instead of the typical 2.5-mile oval the series ran for 26 consecutive years.
In two starts on the road course, Briscoe has an impressive average start of 2.5, though his average finish of 24.5 hasn’t reflected the 28-year-old’s pace.
Since NASCAR made its first pass on the 2.439-mile course in 2021, each race has presented pure chaos. Most notably, the flat, nearly 90-degree turn one has taken out plenty of competition over the last two years.
“It’s hard. I mean, I feel like you’re never safe there, truthfully,” Briscoe admitted. “You can be in the front row, you can be in the middle or the back row — I think I’ve wrecked in all three of those scenarios. So, you’re never safe there, especially on the restarts. That turn one is just chaos every single time. I do think the new format, or the change of the start/finish line with the restart zone, could potentially (help).
“I think if we do that, it might help turn one a little bit. But, you’re still going to have chaos because we’re going so fast. That’s probably the biggest delta I feel like, in turn one versus straightaway speed, out of any road course we go to. I guess COTA (Circuit of The Americas) would be close, but COTA is not nearly as narrow as what Indy is. I just feel like you’re always open to chaos there and calamity every time you have restarts there, just with how narrow it is in that section of the race track.
“But yeah, I don’t know if there’s any strategy you could do necessarily to be safe from all that.”
Before attempting to avoid the chaotic restarts at Indy, Briscoe will have the opportunity to achieve a lifelong dream — race against his childhood hero, Tony Stewart. Briscoe will compete in Thursday’s Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) event at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
“I’m super excited. I’ve never had a race against Tony (Stewart), and everybody here knows that he is my absolute hero,” Briscoe said. “So for me, that was the biggest draw to run SRX.
“I wanted to be able to say that I raced with Tony at some point in my career. Obviously knowing that the time was dwindling down, because he’s probably never going to come run a NASCAR race.”
NEWS: @ChaseBriscoe_14 will join the #CampingWorldSRX Series at @EldoraSpeedway on August 10th with backing from @HighPoint . pic.twitter.com/ZF6i3fc9uJ
— Superstar Racing Experience (@SRXracing) August 4, 2023
After the suspension of Paul Tracy at Motor Mile (Va.) Speedway, SRX needed another driver to compete on Thursday at Eldora.
With Briscoe’s extensive dirt racing background, he was an ideal choice for SRX CEO Don Hawk.
“So, the opportunity, truthfully, came very last minute,” Briscoe said. “Last Thursday, I think at like three o’clock, (Don) Hawk called me and was like, ‘Hey, we have an opening. Would you be interested in coming to run SRX? We’re going to try to announce it at seven or eight o’clock, whenever the TV window is tonight.’
“So, it was super last-minute. Like I said, I literally found out Thursday afternoon.”
Last-minute or not, a trip to the half-mile dirt oval is always a welcome one for Briscoe, who won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Eldora in 2018. In three starts at the Stewart-owned race track, Briscoe never finished worse than seventh.
“It’s at Eldora, which is super special to me in general, and racing against my boss,” Briscoe said. “Hopefully, we can beat him at his own race track.”
Keyword: A Homecoming In More Ways Than One For Briscoe