Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Friday, April 5, 2019
EVENT: Alsco 300 Media Availability
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 98 Nutri Chomps Ford Mustang, is one of four drivers competing this weekend in the Dash 4 Cash with a chance to win a $100,000 bonus. He spoke about that opportunity, along with the start to his season, before today’s practice.
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 98 Nutri Chomps Ford Mustang – HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR TEAM IS DOING AND HOW DO YOU FEEL YOU STACK UP IN THE FIELD? “I feel like we haven’t had the speed we expected to have. The 98 team has been kind of weird, but we’ve been consistent every week where we literally practice right around 15th-place, the first half of the race we’re 10th to 15th, and then the last 50 laps we’re right there in the top five battling for the win. So we just have to finally be able to put the whole weekend together. It’s taken us a little bit of time each and every weekend to kind of find that balance I like and that’s normally with around 50 to go, that last pit stop we finally kind of hit the nail on the head, so we’ve got to start making our practices more efficient. Instead of trying to tune a 15th-place car, we’re tuning a fifth-place car. Once we do that, we can start the race better and then get some stage points. All year long I think we’ve had four stage points and that’s not very good, so we just have to do a better job of running up front the whole entire race, instead of just the last 50. Obviously, the end is what matters, especially in this Dash 4 Cash situation, but in the points situation you’ve got to run good the whole race and that’s something we haven’t been able to do yet.”
IS IT NICE TO BE BACK AT A SHORT TRACK? “Yeah, this place – I don’t, it’s weird for me – I love Salem and Winchester. Those were probably two of my best ARCA tracks, but this place I have not figured out the handle, it seems like. I feel like once we get up to the wall here I run really good, but when we’re on the bottom I really struggle. I’m looking forward to coming here this year. This is probably the most experience I’ve ever had, where I’ve been racing week in and week out and kind of know the feeling I need and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do this weekend.”
WHAT WOULD WINNING THE DASH 4 CASH MEAN TO YOU FROM A FINANCIAL ASPECT? “It would be huge, especially growing up being a sprint car guy. I never did get to race for $100,000, so that’s a ton of money. To be able to do that would definitely be special. It would go a long way with my Chili Bowl organization. I’m trying to get a new motor for my midget right now, so if I could do that, I feel like I could maybe give Bell a little more of a run for his money at the Chili Bowl, so there’s definitely a little extra incentive to try to go win and, honestly, a lot of it would probably go toward my dirt team to try and make it a better program.”
WHERE DOES THE DIRT SIDE OF THINGS SIT FOR YOU RIGHT NOW? “I feel like Florida is a place that just doesn’t fit necessarily our style of how our cars are setup and Dave’s driving style he kind of always struggles in Florida, so we’re really excited to get back to Indiana and run some stuff. Hopefully, I can go run some sprint car stuff this year. I know we don’t have a lot of off weekends, but I know there’s one in May I’d like to go run, so hopefully I can go run and kind of see where out stuff is, but I’m looking forward to his weekend. This is really the first weekend where the USAC season gets going, so I’m looking forward to watching it tonight and see what happens.”
CHASE BRISCOE CONTINUED — HAVE YOU GOTTEN APPROVAL TO GO RUN THAT YET? “I haven’t talked to Tony yet. I feel like my sweet spot is gonna be going to talk to Tony. That’s my best chance. I don’t even know if Tony knows that I’m probably not allowed to go do it, so I’ll just go to Tony I guess and see what he says and then maybe ask for forgiveness later.”
HOW DO YOU LIKE RACING HERE AT BRISTOL? “I love the atmosphere of the place. It’s probably one of my favorite races to come to just to watch and hang out in the grandstands. I was telling those guys a second ago that Bristol’s brother and sister tracks are probably Salem and Winchester. Those are probably my two favorite and my two best tracks when I ran ARCA, but for whatever reason I can’t figure Bristol out. I don’t know what I’m missing, but I feel like this year I kind of came here with a different mindset. I’ve studied a lot and I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what I need to be doing different here when I come here, so I’m looking forward to it. The races here are always fun and I’m really anxious this year to get going just because I feel like the track compound is the least amount it has ever been and I feel like that will play into my hand a little bit more. I feel like I struggle in that typically, and I feel like the track is gonna be changing a lot more than we’ve normally seen it do, so I feel like that just helps the dirt guy’s background and we’ll see what happens this weekend.”
NO CUP DRIVERS THIS WEEKEND. DO YOU LIKE THAT? “I don’t know. I kind of have mixed feelings. I personally really enjoy racing the Cup guys. I feel like it makes me a way better race car driver just getting around those guys and learning. A lot of people don’t think we’re ever gonna beat them, so when you do go beat them it just makes you look even better. I personally like it. I’m not gonna say that I’m disappointed that Kyle is not racing this weekend because this is probably his best track, but it does make it special and it makes you feel like you’ve really earned something whenever you beat those guys. I like having them in the field, but at the same time I feel like the XFINITY guys have proved the last couple of weeks that we can run with Kyle. Even last week he wasn’t necessarily the best car, and then even back to Fontana, Cole beat him so they’re beatable, but they definitely don’t make it easy on you.”
IS THE FEELING THAT IN ORDER TO WIN THE DASH 4 CASH YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO WIN THE RACE? “Yeah, I would say so. Tyler is obviously really good everywhere he goes and Bell is probably the class of the field, I would say, out of the XFINITY guys, and even Michael has been running really, really well this year. So I feel you’re probably gonna have to win the race to win it, but that’s kind of the unique thing about Bristol is anything can happen. Here and Talladega are the two places I feel like you might not necessarily have to win the race to win the $100,000. With that being said, I feel like you’re gonna have to be up front and definitely battling for that top three to be able to do it. There’s a reason these guys are battling for this extra $100,000 and they’re the guys that are running up front each and every week, so I would say you’re probably gonna have to win the race. There might be one or two spoilers. Obviously, Cole will be really good too, so we’ll just have to find out Saturday.”
CHASE BRISCOE CONTINUED — HOW DO YOU FEEL YOU’VE DEVELOPED AS PART OF FORD’S DRIVER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM? “Going back to before I had any ride I wasn’t getting paid to do anything. My mom and dad were giving me a little bit of money, but then never had the kind of money to support me full time. I’d pay rent. It was $50 every month or two when I could afford it. I came to Bristol and would drive to Daytona and I would sneak into the race track just so I could talk to people. I had business cards made and I would hand them out. It’s funny, but I remember going up to Jack Roush one time and said, ‘Hey, I’d love to have a meeting with you,’ and he said, ‘I don’t do meetings.’ And then last year I end up getting to drive for him, so it’s kind of been cool from where I started to now. I’m getting to drive for Tony Stewart, the guys I looked up to growing up, and it’s been incredible all the support I’ve gotten from Ford and the opportunities they’ve provided me. It’s pretty hard to imagine how much my life has changed in the last four or five years, especially with everything I’ve been able to do. It’s pretty unbelievable.”
HOW HAVE YOU EVOLVED THROUGH THIS PROGRAM? YOU GOT TO DRIVE THE GT4 LAST YEAR AND CAME INTO THIS WITH VERY LITTLE ASPHALT EXPERIENCE. “Yeah, it’s been huge. I feel like a lot of people don’t realize how much inexperience I have compared to every other guy I’m racing against. Going back to even last year and getting to run the GT4 and getting to run the Truck at Eldora and getting to run the XFINITY car, just getting to jump around and do so many different things has allowed me to get so much better at what I get to do. This is the one year I’ve been so excited for because it’s the first time I’m ever gonna get to race the same car literally week in and week out. I was full-time in the Truck Series, but it’s only 21 weekends whereas this is 33 weekends, so just getting to be in that car every week I feel like I’ll be so much better by the end of the year because of that. That’s one thing throughout my career I’ve never really had is being able to be in the car consistently every week, so I’m definitely looking forward to it.”
