No one had Chase Briscoe winning the Southern 500 to advance into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs in the final hour but he did so why stop there?
That is the philosophy the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 team is taking into the next several weeks, because as they proved on Sunday, they aren’t out of it until they are officially out of it. SHR is closing at the end of the year, losing three cars with one rebranding as Haas Factory Team, with Ford Performance having shut off most of their resources over the course of the summer.
But what happened, is that those who remained with the team through the end of the season, all banded together and are working through the data deficit to the best of their abilities.
“The day we found out,” said Briscoe, “all of the 14 guys, at least road crew guys, went over and met up at the setup plate, and all literally looked at each other in the eye and went one by one in a circle and said, ‘I’m in, I’m in, I’m in,’ until the end of the year. Even if we ran 35th, we were sticking it out until the end, so no worries on this side.
“The other teams have had a couple of people leave. But I think it’s going to be way harder for guys to leave now, knowing that there’s a chance we win a championship.”
Briscoe and the 14 team were the only group from Stewart-Haas Racing to advance into the Round of 16 and the other three teams are all working towards the singular goal of making up what they might not have in Penske data.
“A perfect example is the 10 car these next three weeks is going to go literally identical to us,” Briscoe detailed. “Every single piece, part, setup, everything is going to go identical to how we go, just so they can try stuff in practice and see if we can learn anything.
“Those other teams that have four cars, they’re not going to be doing that. They’re going to be doing everything they can to do for themselves so that definitely makes it a little bit different for us.”
Crew chief Richard Bowell suggested this would be the case on Sunday after winning the race too.
“It’s really sad what’s happening because I’ve been at Stewart-Haas Racing for eight years (and) this is the best I’ve ever seen four Cup drivers work together, the best I’ve ever seen four crew chiefs work together,” Boswell said.
“I’ll be honest, like I’ve got four teams helping me for these next three weeks. That’s what I’m looking forward to. I’m looking forward to going to battle with all four teams. I know that we have a group of guys that support this team and are going to do everything that they can.”
Briscoe has long considered team co-owner Tony Stewart his hero and drew inspiration from his 2011 championship run.
Stewart, famously that season, suggested that he and his team didn’t belong in the Chase for the Championship after barely squeezing into the playoffs on points and without a win. His team responded to that moment by winning half of the 10 races.
“When you look at the makeup of Stewart-Haas Racing, a lot of it all stems from Tony and the mental toughness and things that Tony’s been able to do,” Briscoe said. “Momentum is a crazy thing in sports. I related it to N.C. State in the NCAA basketball tournament. They go from not even having a prayer to make the NCAA tournament to winning the ACC tournament and going all the way to the Final Four, and I feel like we certainly can relate to that where when you have momentum and confidence, it goes such a long way.
“I don’t see what team right now would have more momentum and confidence than we do. It’s just a different feel for the playoffs than I’ve ever had.”
Briscoe said the fortunes and vibes at the Kannapolis, North Carolina shop changed with the results of one day. He said if one of their four cars didn’t win their way into the playoffs, it was going to be a somber day, and the beginning of the end for the organization.
And while the company still has 10 weeks left, it’s 10 weeks left to send out its marquee car number out as a champion.
Everyone has bought into that possibility.
“We’re probably the most electric, fired-up shop; or at least the most fired-up I’ve ever seen Stewart-Haas,” Briscoe said. “Everybody has a pep in their step. Everybody is excited and if Stewart-Haas car didn’t win Sunday night, then it would have been hard, realistically, to get cars to the racetrack these final 10 weeks, and things would probably have been getting shut off and things like that. So, for us to be able to win that race is pretty dang cool from the standpoint of what it means for Stewart-Haas Racing.
“So, I’m definitely excited. I feel like it’s one of those things that we all internally feel like we can honestly go win the championship, and that’s crazy probably coming from a guy that wasn’t even in the playoffs until (a few) days ago. But I think internally, everyone believes it. We saw Tony do it in 2011 and we’re kind of going with that same mindset of if we can win the Southern 500, why can’t we win more?”