For a total of four full reasons, Chase Briscoe competed in the NASCAR Cup Series as part of the Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) driver stable.
But that all changed when the Tony Stewart co-owned organization ceased operations at the end of 2024.
Fueled by a desire to start a family and invest more time in the professional drag racing team he owns, Stewart made a surprisingly quiet exit from NASCAR. Since then, the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion driver has spent little, if any, time at the track.
So Briscoe was understandably a little bit surprised this past week when he heard from his old boss for the first time in quite some time.
Tony Stewart And Chase Briscoe Have A Special History
Needing to find a new ride once Tony Stewart announced plans to shutter SHR following the 2024 season, Chase Briscoe landed at Joe Gibbs Racing. Coincidentally, Stewart drove for JGR and won two Cup Series championships with the company before leaving to help launch Stewart-Haas Racing with businessman Gene Haas in 2009.
But it was Briscoe’s success at SHR — two wins and two playoff appearance in four years — that made him an attractive hire for JGR, one of the Cup Series’ most elite organizations.
So even though Briscoe undoubtedly did not love with how things ended at SHR, he will always owe Stewart for giving him his big break in the sport.
That break was an opportunity to move up from the NASCAR Xfinity Series to the Cup Series in 2021. And it was, more specifically, the opportunity to pilot the No. 14 SHR car that Stewart himself wheeled from 2009 through his retirement from the Cup Series at the end of 2016.
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Despite winning poles seemingly at will, Chase Briscoe failed to translate that speed to race day in his first 16 starts for Joe Gibbs Racing.
It all finally came together last weekend at Pocono Raceway, however, when Briscoe scored his first win for JGR — and first of 2025 — in convincing fashion.
Not surprisingly, Briscoe received a slew of congratulatory calls and messages on the heels of his breakthrough triumph. At least one of them was especially meaningful. It came from his former boss.
“Tony told me that he was super-happy for me,” Briscoe said on Friday at EchoPark Speedway, site of Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race in Atlanta. “He didn’t have to do that, right?”
Indeed, Stewart didn’t. But he did. So even though he is no longer involved in NASCAR, Stewart clearly has great respect for Briscoe. And it certainly seems like the feeling is mutual.
