MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Chase Briscoe’s victory in Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway was a lifetime in the making.
The Indiana native grew up the son of dirt-track, sprint car racer Kevin Briscoe and began racing himself at an early age. He was also a fan of another Hoosier — Tony Stewart. And in another storybook chapter, it was the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford that Briscoe steered to victory at the one-mile desert oval, becoming the 200th different driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race.
As well, Briscoe, 27, has now won in all three NASCAR national series.
“The Cup Series is the pinnacle,” said Briscoe, who won the 2016 ARCA Menards Series title. “You dream of getting an opportunity to run in the Cup Series. It’s the most elite guys, the best race car drivers in my opinion in the world, especially in stock cars.
“To win a Cup race is nothing I dreamed in a million years I would get to win one of them,” he continued. “To be on that list of only 200 people. I don’t know what I am now in winning all three series. I never thought I’d win a Truck race, let alone win in all three series now. It’s super special. Can’t believe it. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. I don’t know if it will for a while.”
Briscoe won nine Xfinity Series races in 2020 but struggled through his rookie season in the Cup Series last year.
“Last year you come in, winning nine races in the Xfinity Series, you think you’re ready, but you’re never ready. You get humbled really, really quickly in the Cup Series and learn how good everybody is,” Briscoe explained. “Even though we’re running 30th, these guys are some of the best race car drivers in the world. You have to go to work and figure it out.
“For me, I don’t come from backing. I have to go have results otherwise nobody wants me to drive the race car. It’s definitely a relief to win a race. You can run second, third, but people want to win at the end of the day. You have to win races to stay here.
“This isn’t a guarantee. This could be my only win,” Briscoe said. “I hope not. It shows I was capable of being at this level. But you still have to keep working. There are 39 other guys that are going to try to do their best next week.”
Briscoe talked to Stewart on the phone from victory lane.
“I thanked him for believing in me and giving me an opportunity to drive that car,” Briscoe said. “That car (No. 14) is obviously his, and he has a lot of passion and drive for that car and to take a chance on another guy, kind of like himself, a dirt sprint car. We grew up 45 minutes apart. My dad raced against Tony Stewart in sprint cars. I was literally a diehard Tony Stewart fan growing up and diehard 14 fan, so for me to add my name to the list of guys that have got the 14 car to victory lane is definitely special for me.
“Looking back, when I was six, seven years old and wearing the Tony Stewart helmet and uniform, I never in a million years thought I would get the 14 car in victory lane in the Cup Series. It was cool for him to call and hear how excited he was.”