On one hand, this is what Chase Briscoe and crew chief Richard Boswell also believed they were capable of throughout the season. On the other, it’s taken a little bit of help from their friends given the circumstances.
The Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 have advanced into the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, a championship run that wasn’t even plausible until they won the Southern 500 in a regular season buzzer beater.
It’s not like they weren’t in the figurative ballpark of the other contenders. They finished the regular season with the 17th most points scored, a number that currently sits at 16th but also the 14th best average finish.
This was always a playoff caliber team that just nearly missed the Round of 16 on points because of a summer stretch of misfortune. That they won, straight up, was a testament to the group they always had in place.
It’s the same reason Briscoe isn’t surprised they are now in the Round of 12.
“No, not really,” Briscoe said on Saturday night after advancing. “We have good people; people who are hungry and have an edge right now because our backs are up against the wall.”
Remember what this team is up against.
Stewart-Haas Racing lost its Tier 1 Ford Performance affiliation at the start of the season amidst rumors that the company might downsize or shutdown. Tony Stewart did little to assuage those rumors once the season began. Then came the formal announcement that the company was indeed shutting down and selling three of its four ownership charters.
“I think we had a really good start to the season and that got overshadowed by a really poor mid-season and the announcement that 300-plus employees are getting laid off and that four drivers need rides,” Boswell said. “That’s not a good enough excuse but it’s real, right?
“It’s something everyone had to deal with and there have been distractions about where everyone is going.”
It left a degree of animosity within the shop, that those who remained weren’t given a fair shot.
“I don’t know how to word this … It’s not that we want to stick it to SHR, but we want to prove that we can do this and know what we are capable of,” Briscoe said.
“I don’t know what it is but there’s this confidence and swagger amongst the entire building and it’s unlike anything I have experienced since I was a Cup driver. The only thing I can compare it to is being an Xfinity driver at SHR at the time Kevin (Harvick) and the No. 4 guys were winning nearly 10 races and how that energized the entire building.”
It’s an entire building in Kannapolis, North Carolina that has committed to working towards the singular goal of advancing their counterparts in the No. 14 as deep into the playoffs as they can go.
Most notably, Noah Gragson has the closest driving tendencies to Briscoe and crew chief Drew Blickensderfer has completely bought into using their practice sessions to try things that Boswell doesn’t have time to put into the No. 14 car.
“We as a group decided when they made the playoffs that the 10 team, we were going to try one setup and the 14 team would try a different setup, and whichever one worked the best is what direction they’re going to go,” Blickensderfer said.
He said their speed at Watkins Glen was a reflection of that.
“Noah was fast in practice and it kept them kind of grounded in saying we don’t need to change a whole bunch,” Blickensderfer said. “They went to work on how chase was driving compared to Noah and that was a great result for the,
“I think it helped again (at Bristol) because we went one direction and practiced with the same setup and they went the other and lo and behold, we came back together by the end of practice and were very similar again.”
Briscoe and Gragson are talking after every session too.
Blickensderfer says he and Boswell unload each week with identical setups and leave it to their drivers to steer them in what direction Briscoe will have it once they take the green.
“With the NextGen car, we can get it almost identical,” Blickensderfer said. “So because of Noah and Chase’s relationship, talking about the cars doing whatever it is, they can look back on what the other is doing behind the wheel to make each other better too.”
“Which, by the way, is a huge thing because we crew chiefs and engineers can go back and can feel a lot of validity with the changes when we’re all doing it together.”
Rodney Childers and Josh Berry aren’t as hands-on with the No. 14 collaboration as their teammates at the No. 10 but have bought into whatever Boswell might ask of them too.
“I honestly love this,” Childers said. “Honestly, that group is a little quiet compared to our 4 team but they definitely tell us when they need help but they are very focused on what’s good for them, and the things that make them better, and they’re doing a great job.”
Boswell, beyond being grateful for the collaboration, also says it’s reflective of the tragedy of the closure.
The current group at Stewart-Haas Racing have worked as well together as any team in NASCAR possibly could and circumstances are breaking them up.
But for now, they have at least three more weeks, and maybe three more weeks after that, to try to send out the company with one more championship race appearance and everyone is relishing every opportunity that comes with it.
“That’s the worst part about all of this,” Boswell said “We have an amazing group of employees that work together and I don’t know what caused all of this but the one thing I can say is that (vice president of competition) Greg Zipadelli does an amazing job.
“He pushes the four teams to work together, which is his main job, and he’s done a great job of that. I have three amazing teammates that help with everything they can, crew chiefs helping crew chiefs, drivers, shop hands talking through every detail.
“We are a big family working together for one goal.”