TOYOTA RACING – Chase Briscoe
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
AVONDALE, Ariz. (October 17, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Phoenix Raceway.
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 19 Columbia Bank Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
How important is momentum when it comes to competing in the Chase?
“It’s definitely a huge advantage. When they can have confidence in just the momentum. It’s really been 15 weeks in a row now. They have not had like a blow-up pit stop, so they’ve just been super solid for really the whole second half of the season. From my standpoint, it just makes your job so much easier because you come down pit road. You know you’re not going to lose spots and you typically gain spots, and that’s honestly the easiest place to lose your track position during the race. And when you can come down and gain two or three spots every time, it just makes a huge difference for your day. So yeah, they’ve been absolutely pivotal in our success and they’ve just been rocking lately.”
What’s it like walking into the JGR competition meeting on a Monday after a win?
“It was good. I liked it. It was a good meeting. I think that’s been the unique thing. That’s been like that a couple times. I feel like this year where one of us has sometimes been really, really strong and the other one’s struggling. Not that we struggled last week as Charlotte, but I don’t know. It’s just a dynamic you truthfully get used to it at JGR. I think we have as a company won like 10 races or something this year, so there’s a lot of the time where you’re in those meetings and one guy’s happy and the other ones aren’t happy. I think the big thing is, like last week, Christopher (Bell) felt like his car was more than capable of winning too. So that changes the mood a little bit. I think the hard meetings are when one of us have just a really, really strong car and the rest of us kind of struggle. That’s when it’s always good to be that one guy that was good, not the guy that struggles because those are those are not fun meetings.”
Are you and Christopher (Bell) good with each other after the close finish last week?
“Yeah, we talked all week. I think just Christopher really wants to win. I don’t think there was anything bad on the racetrack. I didn’t think anything of it. I think Christopher just definitely wears his heart on his sleeve and was mad that he didn’t win obviously.”
You’ve had a string of bad luck here at Phoenix with JGR, but prior to that, with SHR, you have a victory, and you’re constantly running in the top 10. How confident are you that you guys have kind of found that feel that you previously had here?
“I am definitely confident, coming here. You look at JGR and just like the results page here. It’s been terrible. It’s probably been my worst track statistically, but I feel like this has honestly been one of our best tracks. You know, the spring, the first race I ran, it would have been like race three or four of my career at JGR. I was really good and the best I felt early on in the season. Got crashed and the championship race last year, we went from dead last to second, I think, two times. So was extremely strong there, just kept blowing tires, and in the spring this year, I think we were running second or third and we blew a tire. We’ve been really, really strong here. Just been a matter of keeping air in the tires and they’re not blowing. I know that we’ve brought a different approach, at least that’s the plan. So we’ll find out, I guess, hearing a little bit that plan worked out.”
How much of a concern is it for your when you’ve had several blown tires here in recent races?
I mean, it’s a concern, I guess. But I also know that the first time, I guess the championship race, it was like, man, maybe it’s just bad luck that we keep blowing tires. Then when we came back in the spring and we blew tires, I remember the Monday after James (Small, crew chief) was like, obviously we have to make changes. We can’t just keep going back for the same thing and thinking that something else is going to happen. I’m not really concerned from that standpoint because I know that they’re super smart and they can normally make the thing better. I’m not like majorly concerned. And in the sim, it felt still really good, even with everything that changed. So, is there a little concern? Yes, but it’s not like I’m super panicked either. But yeah, if we blow a tire just hopefully it happens down the straight away and not going into the corner.”
How much can you still drive this track the way that you’ve driven it in the past?
“I think when we talk after the spring races, I run very different here than a lot of guys and the big things is I just run so high up the racetrack. Like in (turns) one or two, I’m basically scraping the wall and I think there’s a lot of things that I do that probably make the tires just wear more or have more heat or whatever. That was something that when we talked about even this week, James didn’t necessarily tell me that I had to start driving this place different. It was, we have to get the car to be able to suit how I drive here. That was really encouraging. In the sim it still felt really good. I felt like I could do all the things I needed to do. The sim sometimes isn’t accurate, so who knows if when we start practicing it will drive like that. But if it does drive like that in the sim, I feel really good about it and hopefully we can keep tires on it because I feel like if we can keep the tires on, we’re definitely be in the mix.”
Are you having to adjust the way you drive since joining JGR or is James (Small) adjusting to how you drive with his setups?
“I’m still driving how James wants me to drive for the most part. I think a lot of just my driving style, truthfully, has changed too. As I’ve gotten acclimated to the JGR cars and there’s just a lot of things from a technique standpoint, just how it manipulates the car that I feel like I’ve just almost became second nature. I still have to train myself to do it, but I’ve definitely gotten way better at that. I think just from a searching around the racetrack standpoint, just the line I’m running in (turns) one and two. James wasn’t super strong on me changing that because it’s been extremely fast, obviously. It’s just a matter of being able to keep the tires underneath it to do that.
You talked about Ryan Blaney running a low line in the spring, have you looked at changing your approach because of his success doing that?
“Typically for me it’s just not worked here. Like just how I do things, it just does not, for whatever reason, work. I’ve been able to go down there and still do it, but I’m just not as efficient and not as fast. I remember even back when I won in 2022, I was just running super high compared to everybody, and for whatever reason, that’s always been the thing that’s made me comfortable here. Even back to the 2020 Xfinity Series days, I would be terrible if we had to run the bottom for whatever reason. There’s just something about this place that is how you, or feel, the race car when you run the bottom that I always kind of struggled with. And hopefully the top will come in. I’ll just have to try to figure out how to run the bottom. The track might be totally different this time around as that resin kind of wore off, the top’s gotten worse and worse. It definitely has been trending back towards the bottom. I think the extra horsepower kind of helped the top come back a little bit. Just because it’s so much harder to put the power down the bottom, but we’ll just figure out the racetrack as we go here. I think it will be pretty dominant on the bottom, so I’ll get the least some practice in.”
What are you leaning into with this car with the strong runs you’ve had in recent races?
“We just have a really good understanding of kind of what I need as a team and the team’s just done a really good job of giving me that kind of feel that I look for, whether it’s a short track or a mile and-a- half, or a road course. We’ve been able to work together over the last couple of years, our group just does a great job, truthfully. And if I’m off to start the race or off to start the weekend, they always kind of know the adjustments to make to get it better. That feel obviously changes a little bit based on the track, but for the most part, that same kind of balanced profile you look for the same track to track. They’ve just done a really good job with the more experience of me being able to match that at a lot of different tracks. I feel like that’s where a lot of our successes came from.”
Any shift in strategy with Phoenix no longer being the championship race?
“I don’t think so, it is a little bit different. Last time we were here in the fall, you were really only racing three guys win a championship where you’re still racing for the championship, probably four to five different guys, but it’s not a win or take all, right? So, if you don’t win the race, it still definitely matters where you finish and stages and all those things where typically this race, it was very different from a feel standpoint because you weren’t racing for any points. All that matters is trying to beat the other three guys. I’m sure the strategy will definitely be different at the end of the race. If one of those late race cautions come out, what you did last year would probably a little bit different than what you did this year. I think that’ll all play itself out.
How soon do you start preparing for Homestead?
“I think after Martinsville. The team is obviously already kind of looking at Homestead stuff. We’re in the process of building a car and I’m sure setup wise, they’re in the beginning stages from a sim standpoint. But for myself, it really will start after Martinsville. I’m not going to change anything I’ve been doing. Tuesday night, Wednesday of that week, with Homestead being the last race, I’m sure Monday we’ll do some stuff too, especially if we’re in the mix. I would say after Martinsville is when the approach will actually happen.”
NASCAR announced this weekend that they’re going to allow teams to change the front brake pads and rotors after practice and qualifying. Do you feel like this was needed?
“I don’t mind it. I think that’s probably a good decision. I don’t think it’s going to get to where we’re bringing different brake pads to the racetrack and changing them in and out. If it gets to that point, I’m sure they’re going to make a change anyways. But I think from a safety standpoint, when you look at Gateway and even like our group in Iowa, you just don’t want guys blowing brakes, right? That’s a bad situation to be in as a race car driver. I think anything we can do to prevent that is probably not a bad idea. Who knows if it will actually be a storyline, I don’t know, but from a safety standpoint, I’m all about it. Now, if it starts being a performance thing, then maybe you consider changing that rule back. But from a safety standpoint, I don’t know why we would be so against being able to change brakes.”
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