It’s practically all hands on-deck for Stewart-Haas Racing right now as an entire organization, with just a month and a half to go before it closes, it placing its entire support and emotional resolve behind Chase Briscoe and the No. 14.
As detailed in this Sportsnaut report earlier in the week, Noah Gragson and crew chief Drew Blickensderfer over at the No. 10 team are unloading identical set-ups to what Briscoe and Richard Boswell are using just so they can compare notes.
Josh Berry and Rodney Childers have done the same this weekend as well with the No. 4 team even taking their full pit crew over to the No. 14 as they have the best underlying metrics on pit road this season. It’s been a rewarding process for Briscoe to have the entire company behind him.
“It’s been humbling, just from the whole company all embracing the 14 car and doing everything they can to make the 14 car have the best potential to win the championship,” Briscoe said. “So that’s been cool, just to have 300 and something employees literally feel like they’re on your back and riding with you every single weekend
“And then just as a company, like SHR from the day I’ve been there has never worked as well as they have right now. Like all four crew chiefs, all four drivers. I think, we even saw it last week, Noah was genuinely excited for me to make it onto the next round of the playoffs and, the 10 car has been going to the racetrack identical to us every week for the last three weeks and even this week now the 4 car as well.
“I do think that’s a little unique where since I am the only car in, and even just our situation with the whole team shutting down, like all the resources, all the effort, all the focus, everything they got is on us right now. So that’s different. No other team can say that.”
To his point, all four Hendrick cars are in the Round of 12 and all three Penske cars are as well so each of those teams have to make the best decisions for each individual car.
“For us, especially at a place like Talladega next week, I do think it’ll make a difference, just because I’m going to have three teammates that are super committed to doing everything they can to help me,” Briscoe said.
Think about that for a moment: No matter what happens during the race next weekend, Gragson, Berry and Ryan Preece have committed to pushing Briscoe forward.
It’s so important for Briscoe to at least avoid having a significantly bad race on Sunday at Kansas with Talladega looming and all he has to do is remember how Atlanta last month nearly eliminated him from the first round.
“I definitely have experience with that, just from Atlanta and even the Truck Series,” Briscoe said. “The reason I didn’t make the Final Four was Talladega. So it’s tough, just because there it is out of your control to a certain extent, but also it’s the same for the other 11 guys I’m racing. They all have to go to Talladega too.
“So it’s the cards that you’re dealt and you just gotta figure out what the best hand is and hopefully we can go there and have a good day. But regardless of what the finish is, it’s gonna be what it is, right? You can’t change it, so you just gotta move on from it and hopefully we can leave Talladega in a really good spot going into the Roval, because I definitely feel like the Roval is our strongest track out of the three in this round.”
The pit crew change is even a reunion of sorts for Briscoe as this was the same team that used to change tires and fuel his car before the decision was made to pair them with Kevin Harvick last season. Briscoe said the crew that was servicing his car don’t look at it as a demotion, again citing the philosophy of working towards the goal of propelling the No. 14 team forward.
“I get it, but I think at the end of the day, they still want to see us win this championship because they are a part of this team,” Briscoe said. “I think that’s the unique thing about our company right now is the total buy-in from top to bottom of everybody having this one goal of us going out as champions. The whole thing is super unfortunate, right?
“But the 4 car has probably been the most consistent pit crew on pit road. Consistency is what it takes right now, so I guess that’s the decision behind it.”
Ultimately, the goal for Briscoe on Sunday is just to avoid a bad day and see where the points shake out.
“Yeah, the Darlington Bristol-style performance would definitely be a big help for sure,” he said. “We were talking about it earlier this week and feel like we definitely need to try to maximize this race just with Talladega and the Roval being unpredictable. I do think if we can come out of here 12th or 13th, and get some stage points, it should put you at least in the hunt.
“You’re not going to start at huge depths like you did at Atlanta. So that’s for sure a focus. This has probably not been our best racetrack, so we’ve got some work to do, but I am confident that we’re going to be the best we’ve been here in a long time.”