CHASE BRISCOE
Indianapolis Advance
No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Event Overview
● Event: Brickyard 400 (Round 22 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 21
● Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
● Layout: 2.5-mile rectangular oval
● Laps/Miles: 160 laps/400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 50 laps / Stage 2: 50 laps / Final Stage: 60 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / IMS / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Notes of Interest
● The seeds of the Brickyard 400 were planted on Monday, June 22, 1992. It was the first of a two-day tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway where the viability of racing NASCAR Cup Series stock cars on Indy’s 2.5-mile rectangular oval was explored. Just a day removed from his victory in the Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Davey Allison joined eight of his Cup Series counterparts – Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott, Darrell Waltrip, Ricky Rudd, Ernie Irvan, Mark Martin and Kyle Petty – to run full-bodied stock cars on a track that was specific to low-slung, open-wheel Indy cars and the iconic Indianapolis 500. On the second day of the test, the nine drivers raced in a pack to simulate drafting, all while an estimated 40,000 fans looked on. Elliott in his Ford Thunderbird was fastest on both days, yet his best lap was still 63 mph slower than Roberto Guerrero’s pole-winning speed of 232.482 mph for that year’s Indianapolis 500. The speed discrepancy didn’t matter. Big American iron thundering around the famed Brickyard whetted appetites, and on April 14, 1993, NASCAR president Bill France Jr. and Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George announced that the inaugural Brickyard 400 would be held on Saturday, Aug. 6, 1994. It would be the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the Speedway since 1916. Rising star and Indiana icon Jeff Gordon won the race to score the second of his 93 career victories, beating Brett Bodine by .53 of a second. For the next 26 years, the Cup Series raced on the oval before a three-year sojourn on Indianapolis’ 2.439-mile, 14-turn infield road course. It was not the same, and with the current-generation car putting on great shows at intermediate-style tracks across the nation, the decision to return to Indy’s 2.5-mile oval was made. The 2024 Brickyard 400 will mark the 28th Cup Series race on the big track, but the first since 2020.
● DYK?: The last NASCAR Cup Series team to win on Indy’s 2.5-mile oval was Stewart-Haas Racing. In fact, the team co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart and Haas Automation founder Gene Haas won the last two Brickyard 400s, each courtesy of Kevin Harvick. And not since 2017 has a manufacturer other than Ford won the Brickyard 400, as Brad Keselowski drove a Ford to victory lane in the 2018 Brickyard 400 before Harvick’s back-to-back Brickyard wins in 2019 and 2020.
● The “Stewart” in Stewart-Haas owns two Brickyard 400 victories. The Hoosier hotshoe grabbed a coveted Indy win in 2005 before securing a second triumph in 2007. Both victories came with Joe Gibbs Racing.
● Chase Briscoe doesn’t have a NASCAR Cup Series start on Indy’s 2.5-mile oval, but he does have two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts on the big track. The Mitchell, Indiana native made his Indy debut in 2018 and finished ninth. He then one-upped that result in 2019 by finishing eighth.
● Briscoe is a winner at Indianapolis. When NASCAR transitioned to the road course in 2020, Briscoe proved the quickest to adapt, winning the 62-lap NASCAR Xfinity Series race by 1.717 seconds over runner-up and fellow Indiana native Justin Haley. It was the seventh of Briscoe’s 11 career Xfinity Series wins and he did it with the same primary partner who will adorn his No. 14 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 – HighPoint.com.
● HighPoint.com is a leading provider of technology infrastructure solutions that is headquartered in Sparta, New Jersey. HighPoint has been a partner of Briscoe and Stewart-Haas since 2020 when the company supported Briscoe’s NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign, a collaboration that netted a season-best nine victories and earned Briscoe a promotion to the NASCAR Cup Series. HighPoint has climbed the NASCAR ladder with Briscoe and has helped Stewart-Haas maximize its IT investments. Said Briscoe about the partnership: “Even though we race stock cars, there’s nothing stock about what we do. The science of our cars is impressive, but the technology that goes into building our Ford Mustangs and then making them perform is even more advanced. Our IT needs are pretty complex, and we demand a lot from our technology every day, whether it’s at the shop or at the track. HighPoint provides efficiency and security. They’re more than just a sponsor – HighPoint is a partner that helps us perform.” As an IT Solutions Integrator focused on all things that connect, HighPoint helps its customers with the selection and supply of network infrastructure, mobility, collaboration, data center, security solutions and the risk-mitigated implementation and management of their technology. The company, founded in 1996, is a minority-owned business that serves markets in its nearby Tri-State Region (New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware) and the southeastern United States via its presence in Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as globally with offices in Amsterdam and London. To learn more about HighPoint’s solutions, please visit HighPoint.com.
● The story of how HighPoint.com came together with Briscoe and Stewart-Haas is one that could’ve been scripted in Hollywood. In November 2019, while walking to dinner after attending the SEMA show in Las Vegas, Kevin Briscoe was stopped by a stranger who noticed his No. 98 Stewart-Haas hat. The man was Mike Mendiburu, founder and CEO of HighPoint.com, and he said he was a big fan of Chase Briscoe, then a young NASCAR Xfinity Series driver from Mitchell, Indiana, who was driving the No. 98 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas. Kevin informed Mendiburu that Chase was his son and the two carried on a conversation like they were old friends. The two walked away with Kevin accepting Mendiburu’s business card, just in case the Briscoes ever needed anything. Months passed and Chase Briscoe was told that he may not have a ride in the No. 98 for the 2020 season if funding couldn’t be found. So, Stewart-Haas was given Mendiburu’s information and an agreement was reached for HighPoint.com to sponsor Briscoe. That chance encounter in Las Vegas led to a nine-win season in 2020. In October of that year, midway through the playoffs, Briscoe arrived at Tony Stewart’s house in Indiana for what he thought was a discussion with his team owner about whether HighPoint.com would be returning as his sponsor for the next season. The group sat down for dinner and Briscoe, joined by his parents, was informed a decision had already been made – he would be leaving the No. 98 Xfinity Series program to become the next driver of the team’s No. 14 Cup Series entry, the car Stewart himself wheeled during his driving tenure at Stewart-Haas. “I wouldn’t have a career if it wasn’t for Mike and everyone at HighPoint.com,” Briscoe said. “Going into 2020, I was going to be done. They literally came in the fourth quarter with 30 seconds left on the clock and kept things going. Without them, I think my career would’ve been over.”
● Briscoe will return to his dirt-track roots on Friday night by competing in the Maverick Winged Sprint Car Series race at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway. He will drive his own 410 winged sprint car in the feature event at the quarter-mile dirt oval located approximately 60 miles south of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hot laps begin at 6:30 p.m. EDT with the race program starting at 7:30 p.m.
● DYK?: Briscoe’s first time behind the wheel of a racecar came in 2001. Driving a quarter midget, he won his first heat race and then won the feature event that evening. Briscoe moved on to mini sprints and, when he was 13, stepped into a 410 sprint car. In his first race, he finished 10th in a 40-car field. And in a rookie season that saw 37 starts, Briscoe racked up eight top-five and 17 top-10 finishes, including a win in the last race of the season where he broke NASCAR Hall of Famer and four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon’s record as being the youngest person to win a 410 sprint car race.
Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang
This year marks a return to the oval at Indy. While you don’t have any NASCAR Cup Series starts on the 2.5-mile oval, you do have two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts on the oval (2018 and 2019). So, what’s it like for an Indiana guy to race on the most renown track in Indiana, and on the most renown oval in all of motorsports?
“It’s super cool. Every racecar driver, or anybody in motorsports, wants to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and run laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but when you grow up in Indiana, it just means that much more to you. I’m just super excited to get back. I always say I don’t really care what we’re racing at Indy, whether it’s the road course, oval, dirt track, parking lot, whatever, I just want to race at Indy. It’s definitely more significant going to the oval, so it’ll be really special for me, personally, just to get to run a Brickyard 400. That was something I didn’t know that I was ever going to get the opportunity to do. With how it all kind of played out with this being the last year of Stewart-Haas, it’s really cool just to say I’ll get to run the Brickyard 400 in the 14.”
This year’s Brickyard 400 involves some interesting storylines for you – it’s your first Cup start on the oval, but you’re doing it in your last Indy start in the No. 14 while driving for your childhood hero, Tony Stewart. Is it a bittersweet moment – excitement mixed with a little sorrow?
“A little bit of both. I’m glad that I’ll at least get to say I got to drive one Brickyard 400 in the 14 for Tony. But it is bittersweet knowing that this’ll be the only time I’ll get to do it, and it’ll be the last time that Tony’s an owner at IMS. Yeah, there are mixed emotions. I’m excited and glad that I’m getting to do it with how everything played out, the fact that we’re going back to the oval this year and everything, it means a lot personally to get to do it in the 14. I’m glad that I’ll have that opportunity and at least get the chance to do it, but it is bittersweet. I was talking to Tony a couple of weeks ago and even brought up to him how a reporter had mentioned it to me and it didn’t even really hit me until I heard it. I think for Tony it was the same way. So it’s going to be bittersweet for both of us, but just glad we’ll have the opportunity.”
Explain what it’s like for an Indiana native to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Why is it such a big deal?
“Just when you look at the people who have won there, it’s all icons in motorsports and just people you kind of look up to, the A.J. Foyts, the Parnellis, the Unsers and Andrettis, it’s just the names of the people who have gotten to run at that racetrack, let alone win at that racetrack, it’s kind of a who’s who. Just to get to run on a racetrack that’s been around for more than 100 years and has the history and significance that it has in the motorsports community is always special. Then, when you grow up in Indiana, it’s just normal. I think you take for granted that you have IMS there in your backyard. It’s something you don’t realize how big of a thing it is until you finally go there and see it in person and realize what it means to motorsports. It’s certainly special to have probably the most iconic racetrack in the world as my home track.”
Racing at your home track is cool, but it also comes with a good bit of work outside of the racecar as family and friends want to see you before, during and after the race weekend. How do you juggle that aspect with what you need to do with your No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang?
“I enjoy it. It’s nice for me to go up to Indiana and get away from everything and see my friends and family that I don’t get to see a whole lot, and even a ton of race fans that I normally don’t get to see. So I try to go up a couple of days early and hang out and kind of get away from the craziness that is everyday life in Charlotte. I enjoy it. I try to always hang out with my grandparents, I try to go fishing with some of my best friends who I grew up with, and try to enjoy being home, something I don’t really get to do anymore. Definitely enjoy and look forward to it every single year. It’s a lot of work going up there just because I’m always busy, but it’s definitely a good busy.”
Indiana in July is hot and humid. How do you deal with the heat, and how far out before a race weekend begins do you start preparing yourself for the heat?
“For me, it’s normally Wednesday and Thursday that I try to get prepared for the weekend, and definitely it’s Saturday when you’re getting ready for Sunday. Growing up there, I’m kind of used to it. Indiana in July is definitely a different type of heat than you’re typically used to. Every time I think about Indiana in July, I think of Indiana Sprint Week and racing eight races in 10 days. I think you kind of get used to the heat when you’re from there, but it’s definitely a shock to a lot of people when they go there, especially in the middle of July and August. For me, it’s kind of normal.”
What’s your earliest childhood memory of Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
“The earliest childhood memory I have of IMS is, when I was 7 years old, literally right outside the tunnel between turns one and two, there’s a brick building that I think just got sold last year, but there was a guy who did embroidery on uniforms there. His name was Jim Bob and I remember going there and getting my first-ever uniform embroidered with my name on it. That was the first time I’d ever seen IMS. I watched it on TV, but I never put two and two together, and I just remember going there and seeing the grandstands and just driving around the racetrack and being in awe of how big of a racetrack it was. I’d always seen quarter-miles and three-eighth-mile dirt tracks growing up, but had never seen anything that was two-and-a-half miles. That’s my first memory of IMS. Literally, when you drive out of that tunnel, you’re looking at the building. So it’s kind of crazy that my first-ever race suit came from across the street at IMS.”
What’s your favorite Tony Stewart memory from Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
“For me, obviously the Brickyard wins stand out. Truthfully, I don’t remember the Indy 500, the double runs, I was a little bit younger. But I definitely remember Tony’s first Brickyard win, and then the one where he gave the interview on the front straightaway about the fans sticking with him. And I remember him doing the burnout over in turn two in front of his dad, Nelson, and all of his family and friends, so those are the ones that sort of stand out more than the rest.”
No. 14 HighPoint.com Team Roster
Primary Team Members
Driver: Chase Briscoe
Hometown: Mitchell, Indiana
Crew Chief: Richard Boswell
Hometown: Friendship, Maryland
Car Chief: J.D. Frey
Hometown: Ferndale, California
Engineer: Mike Cook
Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland
Spotter: Joey Campbell
Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut
Over-The-Wall Members
Front Tire Changer: Shayne Pipala
Hometown: Frankfort Square, Illinois
Rear Tire Changer: Dakota Ratcliff
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Tire Carrier: Jon Bernal
Hometown: Holland, Michigan
Jack Man: Kapil Fletcher
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fuel Man: Corey Coppola
Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia
Road Crew Members
Underneath Mechanic: Stephen Gonzalez
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina
Interior Mechanic: Trevor Adams
Hometown: Plymouth, Wisconsin
Tire Specialist: Keith Eads
Hometown: Arlington, Virginia
Shock Specialist: Brian Holshouser
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Engine Tuner: Jon Phillips
Hometown: Jefferson City, Missouri
Transporter Co-Driver: Todd Cable
Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina
Transporter Co-Driver: Dale Lackey
Hometown: Taylorsville, North Carolina
