Chase Briscoe has seen a major change since moving to Joe Gibbs Racing. The quality of the equipment has "simplified his life" as he has continued to pursue his first win of the season.
"I'm not looking at 100 different things," Briscoe said after winning the pole at Nashville Superspeedway. "It is 'Here is 10 things you need to focus on going into this week. This is how the car should drive this week. This is the perfect way to drive it.'
"And then for me, I can go look at what the other cars are doing, where in the past (with SHR), I can go look at the best cars, but my car is not going to do that, so it is kind of irrelevant. Where now, I think the biggest thing for me these last couple of weeks, is finally just the understanding on how hard I can push this car and what is it absolutely able to take."
Two weeks in a row of starting on the pole 👍🏻👍🏻 pic.twitter.com/T4smSjZkBi
— Chase Briscoe (@chasebriscoe) June 1, 2025
Briscoe spent the first four seasons of his Cup Series career with Stewart-Haas Racing, an organization that won two championships and 70 races before selling its charters and exiting the series. However, he joined SHR when it was going through some major changes.
Briscoe's first season was in 2021, the final year of the Gen 6 era. The only SHR driver who won was Aric Almirola. The team then moved to the Gen 7 car and dealt with some struggles before ultimately exiting the Cup Series.
Kevin Harvick, a perennial championship contender in the Gen 6 car, only won two races before retiring. Briscoe won two races in three seasons. Cole Custer, Noah Gragson, Josh Berry, Almirola, and Ryan Preece all went winless while combining for seven top-10 finishes.
Joe Gibbs Racing is in a different situation. This organization has no intention of exiting NASCAR. Its goal is to win a lot of races with Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, and Christopher Bell.
Additionally, the Indiana native is not worrying about his future. He certainly knows he has to perform to keep his ride, but racing on a multi-year deal has simplified many things for him. He doesn't have to worry about Silly Season.
The results of the simplified life have been easy to see despite a relatively slow start to the season. Briscoe has won the pole three times after only doing so twice in the first four years of his career. He has already posted five top-five finishes in 13 races, one shy of his career-best mark.
"The first 10 races of the year, I would always underdrive in qualifying because the car's capability is so much more than anything I've ever ran," Briscoe added.
"Where now I'm finally getting to the other side of it, where - even today, I didn't feel like I got 100% potential out of it, but I felt like I was at least at 95%. Where earlier in the year, I felt like I was at 80%. It is just all of those things coming together where the results have been way, way better."