Chase Briscoe loves Iowa Speedway. More than a year ago, his new seat opened up when legendary driver Martin Truex Jr. announced his retirement there.
NEWTON—Chase Briscoe had big shoes to fill entering this season.
As Briscoe returns to Iowa Speedway, his "favorite" track on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, he said the adjustment to fill the seat of legendary driver Martin Truex Jr. has been tougher than he ever imagined.
In June 2024, Truex Jr., a 34-time Cup Series winner, 2017 Cup Series Champion and 2004 and 2005 Xfinity Series Champion, announced at Iowa Speedway that he would retire following last season. Less than four weeks later, Briscoe, an Indiana-native who drove in the Cup Series from 2020 to 2024 for Stewart-Haas Racing, was tapped to take Truex's seat.
Truex Jr. vacated a seat on Joe Gibbs Racing, one of the best and best-funded teams in NASCAR, owned by three-time Super Bowl-winning NFL coach Joe Gibbs. Driving for JGR is the equivalent of playing for the "New York Yankees," Briscoe said.
Briscoe won a 2016 ARCA Menards Series race and a 2019 Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway. This season has been up and down for Briscoe. He finished fourth in the season-opening Daytona 500 and later was docked 100 points for an illegal spoiler-base, but the penalty was overturned upon appeal.
In April, Briscoe prepared to return to Iowa Speedway in the No. 19 car and said it took more time to get his feet under him than he anticipated. "I feel like I'm getting my feet set. It's definitely been tougher than I expected," Briscoe said.
On June 22, he won at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania, which locked him into the NASCAR Playoffs. In downtown Des Moines on July 31, Briscoe said his season turned in late May during the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte.
"I feel like that's where our season started to turn in the right direction," Briscoe said. "Over the course of the last two months, I've felt at home and felt comfortable and know what to expect out of my race car."
Why does Briscoe like Iowa Speedway?
Briscoe loves Iowa Speedway because it shares similarities with the three-fourths-mile Richmond Raceway. Its "progressive" banking moves increase the steepness in the corners gradually from 12 to 13 to 14 degrees.
"Iowa was always my favorite racetrack," Briscoe said.
Until last year's partial repave, the track had three or more lanes to race in and pass in. Now, it's limited the racing line to 2.5 lanes at most, drivers have said.
"It was super wore out," Briscoe said. "It just gave you so many options. On top it, it was extremely rough. So there were certain holes that you did not want to hit. There were some holes that you would want to hit to help your car turn. It was such a fun racetrack."
The repave drew mixed reviews from both Cup Series and NTT IndyCar Series drivers. Iowa Speedway President Eric Peterson said in April that the track was partially repaved because, without it, potholes could have formed.
Drivers understand, but still miss "Old Iowa." The top lane in the corners was not repaved. Running on that surface in the corners is about 1.5 seconds slower than running on the new pavement, Briscoe said.
"It took a lot of that character out of that place," Briscoe said. "The groove that you run and the line that you run are now totally different. It's bittersweet, but I think it has the potential to get back there if they ever repave the whole corner... If they do, we've seen Iowa age so fast with the conditions where it's really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter."
During a fan fest in downtown Des Moines on July 31 Briscoe took pictures with fans and signed autographs.
"Nice win at Pocono," One fan said as Briscoe signed his hat.
Dustin Hughes and Travis Hughes from Barnesville, Minnesota, got Briscoe to autograph trading cards. They went to last year's race at Iowa Speedway and loved it so much they came back this year. They liked Briscoe last year when he was at Stewart-Haas Racing, but they like him more now that he's in a top-dog Joe Gibbs ride.
"He's done good in the 19 car this year," Dustin Hughes said. "It's a good fit for him."
"We like Joe Gibbs Racing," Travis Hughes said. "He's qualified really well, won the one race."
Penalty changed Briscoe's mindset
Briscoe's 100-point penalty loomed over him for two races after the Daytona 500 until it was overturned on March 5. In those races in Atlanta and at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, Briscoe tried to win his way into the playoffs because he thought the points penalty was insurmountable.
But when his penalty got overturned, it changed his season, he said.
"If I could race those first two, three weeks after Daytona again, I feel like I would have way better results because I raced those races totally different," Briscoe said. "I was honestly in desperation mode... And I put myself in a couple of really bad spots and it cost us positions."
Briscoe had to change his cars at home
Fans may not realize that when Briscoe switched manufacturers from Ford to Toyota, he also had to trade his Ford cars at home in for Toyotas.
"When you switch manufacturers on the racetrack, you also switch manufacturers at home," Briscoe said. "I had to switch all of our vehicles over. These manufacturers are putting in a heavy investment in the racetrack. So you can't be driving one manufacturer on the racetrack, and then be driving another on the road."
What does Briscoe expect this weekend?
Briscoe sits No. 8 in the standings 17 points behind Ryan Blaney, who won last year's first Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway.
Briscoe's focus is to get more playoff points by winning stages, which award one playoff point; or winning the race, which awards five playoff points; or improving to No. 7 in the standings heading into the playoffs, which start on Aug. 31.
"That's more playoff points if you can finish seventh in the regular season," Briscoe said. "So that's our main objective every week. From a points standpoint, we need to get as many as we can."
In June, Briscoe was among the drivers who participated in a tire test at Iowa Speedway. The repave aged the track in the last year. Passing could be hard with the tire Goodyear chose to bring this weekend, but he still expects the race to be exciting, he said.
"Visually, it looks different," Briscoe said. "It's not nearly as dark compared to the rest of the race track... Tire wear will be very, very minimal. So I don't really know what to expect."
Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and motorsports for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184 or [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Chase Briscoe returns to 'favorite' track Iowa Speedway with new team
Category: General Sports
