INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – DECEMBER 10: Chase Briscoe speaks as Tony Stewart looks on during a press … [+]
Chase Briscoe will continue to live his dream in the NASCAR Cup series with Stewart-Haas Racing.
The team announced Thursday that the 28-year-old Indiana native has signed a multi-year contract extension with the team who brought him into NASCAR’s top tier touring season in 2021. The move came two years after the team signed him for a full NASCAR Xfinity season. In 2020 Briscoe won a Xfinity series high 9 races.
In his first season in the Cup series with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), Briscoe garnered Rookie of the Year honors. Last season Briscoe won his first Cup race, that coming in Phoenix in March, and earned a spot in NASCAR’s Playoffs. He finished the season 9th in the final driver standings.
Briscoe became known not only for his talent on track, but his talent for attracting sponsors to fund his efforts as well. That included securing a sponsorship after a chance meeting on a Las Vegas street that ended with major sponsorship from HighPoint, an IT integration services company. That company remains a sponsor and will join others including Rush Truck centers, Code 3 Associates and Mahindra Ag, another sponsor that was a first for Briscoe.
“It’s really the first time I’ve been aligned, with the exception of maybe one or two times, with an actual consumer brand,” Briscoe said after his first win last year, and first for Mahindra just over a month after the company made its debut. “You look at HighPoint, for example, it’s not as much of a consumer play, it’s more of a B2B thing, whereas Mahindra is trying to sell tractors to fans; that’s something that I haven’t really had at the higher levels of NASCAR is a consumer brand as a sponsor. “
Briscoe’s tenure with Stewart-Haas Racing will now continue.
“It’s huge to have stability, with my team and my partners. It just gives you more confidence. Stewart-Haas Racing is where I want to be for a long time. It’s the place I’ve known longer than anywhere else in my NASCAR career,” said Briscoe.
“I remember getting signed by Ford in 2017 and I told people, ‘You know, if I could pick one place to be, it would be Stewart-Haas Racing. And if I could drive one car, it would be the 14 car. That would be the ultimate dream.’ And now, here I am.
“SHR has such a great group of people, from the Xfinity Series to the Cup Series, and they’ve all just guided me in the right direction. From drivers to crew chiefs to crew members, they’ve always had my back, and that’s been a huge help – just having people believe in you.”
For Briscoe that stability means he has a home for the foreseeable future, and the sponsors to allow him to live his dream; a dream come true for the racer who grew up as a fan of Tony Stewart, who co-owns Stewart-Haas Racing.
“To know I’ll have my name above the door of that No. 14 Ford Mustang for a really long time means a lot, and I’m ready to write my own history in it,” Briscoe said.
“Tony and Gene have built something really special in Stewart-Haas Racing and I’m incredibly proud to be a part of this organization.”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregengle/2023/01/26/nascars-2021-rookie-of-the-year-chase-briscoe-stewart-haas-racing-sign-contract-extension/