Chase Briscoe driving the #14 Ford Mustang fulfills a lifelong dream as the number is that of his idols A.J. Foyt and Tony Stewart, the latter of whom co-owns his employer Stewart-Haas Racing. After a successful 2022 season, Stewart is more than happy to keep his protégé in the #14 as the team announced on Thursday a multi-year contract extension for him.
Briscoe moved up to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2021, winning Rookie of the Year honours. Early into 2022, he scored his first career Cup win at Phoenix to lock himself into the playoffs. Despite a difficult midseason stretch, he closed out the year with top tens in six of the final seven races to finish ninth in points.
“It’s really nice to have stability, especially being a young father now. I think that’s the biggest thing for my family,” said Briscoe, who along with wife Marissa are raising one-year-old son Brooks. “That’s the nicest thing is just having that comfortability, knowing that for the next few years, I’m going to have a job. That’s really important, especially when you’re raising a little one. I think that’s the biggest thing for me. That’s most important about the whole thing is how it affects my family versus how it affects me, so that’s really nice. I’ve never had that my entire career, so that’s going be something new for me to navigate, but I’m looking forward to showing my worth, hopefully, to the organisation.”
The re-signing also provides continuity for SHR amid a changing time for the team. Kevin Harvick, who has been the team’s de facto top driver since winning the championship in his first year in 2014, is set to retire at the end of 2023. Aric Almirola had also planned to hang up his helmet after 2022 but elected to return for another year, though his initial plans suggest the tail end of his career is looming. SHR’s fourth car will have a new driver for 2023 as Ryan Preece replaces Cole Custer, the son of team president Joe Custer who has been demoted to the Xfinity Series.
“I think Stewart-Haas took a little bit more of the initiative (to offer an extension), just knowing the situation I was going to be in coming up and then the situation with Kevin, obviously, and Aric, not knowing when he’s going to be gone,” Briscoe continued. “It felt like we all obviously wanted to get something done. I’ve said it for a really long time that I’ve wanted to be at Stewart-Haas, the personal tie for me to the #14 is important, so I felt like we were both kind of pushing to get something done, but at the same time it was probably a little bit more them than me. At the same time, it was definitely me wanting to get it done, too.”
