With Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick walking off into the NASCAR sunset and leaving two major holes at Stewart-Haas Racing after this season, Almirola explains one of the biggest issues for the team heading into 2024.
The 2023 NASCAR season was the end of an era for Stewart-Haas Racing. After five seasons with Harvick and Almirola as two of their most notable drivers, the veteran racers decided to call it a career following the end of this past season. Their departures now thrust a lot of responsibility on SHR’s remaining roster — especially Chase Briscoe.
Also Read: 10 best NASCAR drivers of all time
Briscoe is now the longest-tenured driver on the team with 108 starts on his resume. He will also be the only member of the team that has Cup playoff experience. Considering his standing in SHR, he is expected to be pushed forward as their new face, and it also means he will have to lead by example.
It is something Almirola spoke about recently as he explained how Briscoe becoming the team’s new leader has to happen if Stewart Haas Racing hopes to maintain the standard left by him and Harvick during their time leading the brand.
“[Briscoe] has got to step up to that [leadership role],” Almirola said [via NBC Sports]. “He’s been there the longest and he’s got some credentials to back it up with all the success he’s had on the Xfinity side and he’s won a Cup race and gone deep into the playoffs last year.
Also Read: Richard Childress Racing executive apologizes to Sheldon Creed
“So he’s going to have to be that guy, and it’s going to create some more responsibility for him.”
Chase Briscoe ready to be the new face of Stewart-Haas Racing
The question now is if the 2021 Rookie of the Year can elevate his game to the level SHR needs. The 29-year-old has shown his potential by ending his Xfinity run with a nine-win season, and then actually reaching the Round of 8 in the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs.
However, he took a step back in his productivity this year as he only posted eight top-10 and four top-five finishes this season. Furthermore, his average finish fell from 17.3 to 20.3 in 2023. It is certainly reason to wonder if he is up to the task that Almirola feels he needs to take on.
Yet, Briscoe seems to feel confident about his ability to be the new Stewart-Haas Racing team leader, as long as he can address his inconsistency from this season.
“I think we’ve had the credentials to be that guy, but we haven’t done it consistently enough to be that guy,” Briscoe said. “So that’s going to be the biggest thing, I think, going forward for me is just to try to be that lead car week in and week out. It’s something that I’ve been able to do maybe eight to 10 weeks here, but I don’t do it 36 weeks a year. So I’ve just got to try to be better on that end.”
Briscoe will hope to front a 2024 SHR roster that will also feature Ryan Preece and rookie Josh Berry joining the team to take over the No. 4. Stewart-Haas Racing has not yet announced who will be the driver of the No. 10 car in 2024.