“You getting tired of this?” Brad Keselowski joked with Briscoe after his sixth pole. Chase Briscoe’s 2025 season has been characterized by his exceptional qualifying performance and sheer speed. He has already secured six NASCAR Cup Series pole positions this season.
He has finished in the front row in seven of the previous eleven races thanks to his six poles, including three in a row. His increasing synergy with crew chief James Small and the No. 19 JGR team is evident from this lightning-fast speed. However, qualifying ability is only half the picture. Briscoe used a clever fuel strategy and strong performance under pressure to turn one of those pole days into a victory at Pocono Raceway.
Kevin Harvick praised the No. 19 team‘s speed and direction on his Happy Hour podcast. He pointed out that instead of translating strong qualifying runs into mid-pack finishes, they now often turn pole positions into top-five finishes and, on occasion, wins. “They have raw speed, and they qualify well. Even when they were kind of fumbling around at the beginning of the year,” he said.
Harvick, however, was blunt in his comments since he feels that despite Briscoe’s brilliance, his squad is still too close to winning the races with reliable performance. “They have not turned all those poles into wins. But now the poles aren’t turning into 15th, right? Or a bad day. Now they’re turning into top fives. That’s really what you want. You want to have that consistency to be able to put yourself up in the front of the pack and capitalize on those days because it’s really hard to win,” he added. Harvick used the Brickyard weekend as an example to highlight late-race traps, including tactical errors, that have prevented Briscoe from winning more races.
After the Daytona 500, Briscoe’s 100-point penalty hung over him for two races before it was reversed. Briscoe believed the points punishment was insurmountable, so he sought to win his way into the playoffs in those races in Atlanta and at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. However, his season shifted when his penalty was reversed.
NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Daytona 500 – Media Day Feb 12, 2025 Daytona Beach, Florida, USA NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe during Daytona 500 media day at Daytona International Speedway. Daytona Beach Daytona International Speedway Florida USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xMarkxJ.xRebilasx 20250212_mjr_su5_060
First and foremost, Chase Briscoe qualified for the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and earned his fifth pole of the season with a fast lap of 183.165 mph (49.136 seconds), which was 0.013 seconds faster than 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace (183.117 mph) for the top starting position. “I thought I was going to lose it a couple of times, but I was able to hold onto it. I’m holding back tears. This is such a special moment for me. Even hearing the crowd as I got the pole is just super cool.” Briscoe said of his edgy qualifying lap after the Brickyard 400.
Then, he earned the top starting position in the Iowa Corn 350 at the 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway after completing a lap of 136.933 mph (23.004 seconds), earning him his sixth pole of the season. The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team, crew chief James Small, and Chase Briscoe have figured out qualifying. “We’ve been fast on Sundays, too, just haven’t been able to come out on top. But yeah, just James [Small], the entire group does such a good job on this thing to get it better. Starting in practice today, we were not the best car. And we ended up getting it to third in practice, and then, obviously, really fast here in qualifying,” Briscoe said after Iowa.
All three of this season’s Crown Jewel races, the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600, and now the Brickyard 400, have seen Briscoe win the Busch Light Pole Award. Briscoe has the raw tools of a champion, but championship-level consistency is still hard yet achievable, according to Harvick’s evident assessment. And it’s Briscoe’s drive for a championship season, in addition to his undeniable consistency, is what likely prompted him to make a big announcement.
Briscoe Closes Sprint Car Chapter to Focus on NASCAR with JGR
Chase Briscoe confirmed on the Always Race Day podcast that he has drawn a clear boundary for his sprint car future. He is “retired, at least for the time being… probably for good,” he said. For the Indiana native, whose roots in the sport date back to Bloomington Speedway, which is only 25 minutes from his childhood home, the decision ends a chapter in both his personal and professional life.
In 2024, Briscoe’s final sprint car race took place in Bloomington, a fitting send-off to the racetrack that influenced his formative racing years. The 29-year-old explained the decision by citing priorities related to both family and career. The couple welcomed Cooper and Collins Ivy twins last year to join their three-year-old son, Brooks. Now that Briscoe has three kids, it’s getting harder to defend the time away and travel requirements.
“It just makes it harder to tell my wife, ‘Hey, I’m going to leave a couple of days early [before a NASCAR race] and go run some sprint car races,’” Briscoe explained. Furthermore, the time aligns with his significant transfer to Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series. Briscoe referred to the transition as “the opportunity of a lifetime”, highlighting the team’s top-notch gear and fast-paced play. His decision to stop racing sprint cars was mostly motivated by the desire to preserve that possibility. “I just don’t want to do something to screw that up, get hurt, or something like that,” he said. Briscoe’s decision to shelf sprint cars is a bold gamble that could determine the course of his career in NASCAR.
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