Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series | Media Availability
Bank of America ROVAL 400 | Saturday, October 12, 2024
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, met with media members Saturday morning ahead of Cup Series practice and qualifying at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
Media Availability Quotes:
BACK AT DARLINGTON, YOU HAD TO WIN THAT RACE TO GET INTO THE PLAYOFFS. IT WAS A LITTLE BIT MORE OF A STRAIGHTFORWARD OVAL. WITH THE STAGE POINTS AND THE STAGE RACING AT ROAD COURSES, HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO APPROACH THIS TO GET THE POINTS TO MAKE UP THE DEFICIT?
“I think for us it’s honestly better that we’re kind of in the position that we are being 32 out or whatever it is versus 15 just because if you’re 15 to even 20, that is doable. Where we’re 30, at least for us, we’re just looking at it as a must win. You could maybe point your way in, but a lot of things would have to go your way. I think it honestly opens up a lot for us from a strategy standpoint of just going in with the approach of flipping the track position and everything else. So yeah, to be below the cut line is obviously unfortunate, but honestly, I would much rather it be 30-something points than 15 just because I think it makes it a little clearer of what you need to do from a strategy standpoint. And out of all the tracks in this round, this is the one where I feel the most confident to come and battle for the win, so hopefully we can do that.”
WE’VE HAD TWO RACES WITH TWO NON-PLAYOFF GUYS WIN RACES? IS THAT GOOD FOR THE GUYS THAT NEED TO GET IN, OR DOES THAT MAKE IT DIFFICULT?
“I think it’s good if you’re around the cut line for sure just because if guys in the playoffs win it just moves that cut line farther and farther down. So I think for the guys near the cut line, it definitely makes it a little bit easier, but for us where we’re at a point situation, it really doesn’t matter truthfully I think it definitely makes a difference, you know the first round even right, if I don’t win the race I’m cheering that a non playoff guy win just because it makes it a lot easier.”
COULD WE SEE A SITUATION TOMORROW WHERE AN ENTIRE SEGMENT OF RACES, THREE RACE SEGMENT, THE PLAYOFFS WHERE NON-PLAYOFF GUYS END UP WINNING THOSE RACES.
“Yeah, for sure. I mean with, you know, Allmendinger and SVG and guys like that, I think that here too, just with the strategy standpoint, it’s gonna be flipped more than any of the oval races that we have. So it definitely would not surprise me at all to see a non-playoff guy win, but hopefully a playoff guy wins.”
COMING INTO THE PLAYOFFS YOU SAID THE MOTIVATION OR THE RALLYING CRY WITH THE TEAM WAS BASICALLY, WHY NOT US? WE’VE SEEN TONY DO IT. SO COMING IN THIS WEEKEND SAYING IT’S A MUST WIN. IS THERE ANY MOTIVATION OR SPEECH THIS WEEK AMONGST THE TEAM ABOUT THE GOAL AND THE JOB ON SUNDAY?
“To be honest with you. I’ve been at the shop all week. I think for me, you know, I don’t feel worried at all. I honestly feel a lot like I did going into the Darlington week, where I know that we can win here. We’ve done it before in the Xfinity level, but this is a track I feel really good about. Our road course stuff has been really good. If you look at Watkins Glen and things like that. So I’m not really nervous. There’s not a whole lot that I feel like isn’t capable by our team when we do everything right. It’s just going to take a good weekend, and with where we’re at in the points I feel like it makes it easier to win the race just because you don’t have to put yourself where you get the points then you restart 20th every single time. You can just flip the track position and you’re gonna start up front every time, so I feel really good about it truthfully.”
YOU AND BOSWELL LAST WEEK WERE PRETTY OUTSPOKEN AND FRUSTRATED WITH WHAT HAPPENED AT TALLADEGA WITH THE DVP POLICY AND THE TOWING. ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH WHAT NASCAR TOLD THE CREW CHIEFS THIS WEEK ABOUT HOW THEY’RE GOING TO APPROACH THESE NEXT FIVE RACES?
“Yeah, I have no idea. I’ve not been on my phone.”
YOU MENTIONED NOT BEING ON YOUR PHONE AND NOT BEING AT THE SHOP. HOW IS LIFE NOW AS THE FATHER OF THREE WITH TWINS AND HOW’S MARISSA DOING?
“Yeah, it’s been a chaotic week. Marissa’s actually at the ER right now. So yeah, she’s been twice. She’s had a lot of issues after. So hopefully I can get done quick here and get back home. The babies are good. They’re super small. I did not expect them to be as small as they are. But yeah, I’m definitely not getting a lot of sleep. Trying to be the best dad and play mom at the same time just with how bad Marissa has been struggling. It’s been a busy week. I probably haven’t focused a whole lot on racing, truthfully, but I’m excited to get the car today just from that standpoint of trying to zone everything that I’ve had going on all week. I feel feel good about it. Being a father of three has been really cool. It has been cool to see Brooks transition into the big brother role already and just hoping that Marissa will be okay and get back to her.”
WERE YOU ABLE TO WATCH XFINITY PRACTICE AT ALL? AND IF SO, WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU COULD TAKE AWAY FROM JUST THE NEW CONFIGURATION AND HOW DOES THE NEW CONFIGURATION IMPACT YOUR CONFIDENCE AT ALL?
“Yeah, I saw, I don’t know, maybe four or five laps of practice. I didn’t see a whole lot, but I think what I had planned on doing as far as the new section looked like what they were doing. So I definitely think that the section over here, I think turn seven or whatever, is going to be very interesting when the race starts, just because the racing line really opens you up to just get taken advantage of. So you’re going to have to play a lot of defense there. And it’s definitely going to create a ton of passing opportunities, I think, not only in that corner, but even into the back straightaway, so I think they did a really good job with it. It’s gonna make it really unique just because it’s off camber. There’s a lot of things that I think are really gonna add to the complexion to this racetrack and I’m looking forward to getting on it.”
DOES HAVING THE TWINS THIS WEEK MAKE IT ANY LESS STRESSFUL OR LESS LIKE WELL IF I DON’T ADVANCE, STILL HAVE THE TWINS?
“I think just your perspective changes, at least it did for me, even with Brooks, that what I do in the race car is important, but in the big scheme of things, in the big scheme of life, it’s not the most important thing where I finish on a Sunday. I think it does add motivation at the same time, just knowing that you have two more mouths to feed and things like that. And you want to provide for your family, but also, my worth is not where I finish on Sunday whether I move on in the playoffs. It’s how good of a husband I am and a father I am. And that’s kind of what I try to take pride in.”
WITH THE CLOSURE OF THE TEAM AT THE END OF THE YEAR, WE’VE HEARD FROM SOME DRIVERS THAT MOVED TEAMS AND ALSO SOME CREW CHIEFS AT SHR ABOUT THE INFORMATION FLOW FROM FORD, OR MAYBE LACK THEREOF, WITH RESPECT TO ALL THE STUFF THAT YOU GOT GOING ON OUTSIDE OF THE RACE CAR THIS WEEK, THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS, AND THEN I GUESS PARTLY THIS WEEK AS WELL. HOW HAS THAT INFORMATION FLOW BEEN AND HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY, YOU KNOW, I GUESS YOU COULD SAY CHINKS IN THE ARMOR FROM THAT PERSPECTIVE?
“From my standpoint, at least the driver’s side, I haven’t seen anything. But I’m also not the one doing all the setups and stuff like that. So I try to not get in the weeds of that stuff. I know for me, I’m still going to the simulator. I’m doing all of those things. So from my standpoint, I feel like we still have everything we need. Even in the playoffs, I’ve been able to run up front and battle. I don’t feel like we’re missing anything by any means. I feel like all that’s really strong. You know, if we don’t move on out of the round of the playoffs, I don’t know if that changes, but I certainly right now feel like we have everything we need.”
YOUR SUCCESS AT THIS TRACK IS ONE THING. THE COURSE CHANGES ARE A WHOLE OTHER BALLGAME. HOW DO YOU BALANCE KNOWING THAT YOU HAVE HAD SUCCESS HERE IN THE PAST, YOU HAVE THAT CONFIDENCE VERSUS THE CHANGES THAT ARE NEW THIS YEAR ARE PRETTY SUBSTANTIAL AND HOW THAT’S GOING TO IMPACT THINGS.
“I’m honestly glad of the changes just due to the fact that I feel like it just makes it a little bit more of an even playing field and kind of reminds me the first time we came here. There’s a lot of new and nobody really has the advantage of just having laps here so I’m excited for the new changes. I think it fits me a little bit better anyways. That section that they took out was probably my worst part of the racetrack. So yeah, I feel really good about it for sure.”
HOW DO YOU NOT GET DISTRACTED WITH EVERYTHING ELSE GOING ON AT HOME, FOCUSING ON THAT AND WITH OBVIOUSLY THE RACE SUNDAY?
“I think for me, my faith is a big one and then just having a really good support system, between Marissa’s parents and my parents doing everything they can to just make it easier for both of us. It’s chaos, I’m not gonna lie. Just, you know, with Marissa being at the ER right now, not wanting to bring four-day-old twins into the ER, so they’re out in the parking lot with my mom and she’s pumping and running milk out there, so, you know, then I’m going back and forth. So, I mean, it’s chaotic, but without that support system and without that family support, it would be way harder. That being said, as chaotic of a week as it’s been, it could be a lot worse, right? There’s a lot worse things that we could be going through, and it could be a lot harder for us. We’ve got it pretty good still. I think just my faith and then having that support system definitely makes it a little bit easier to just not get lost in the chaos.”
SPEAKING OF CHAOS, THE ROVAL HAS BEEN RECONFIGURED, A LOT OF DRIVERS ARE EXPECTING CHAOS IN TURN 7. WHAT OF YOUR IMPRESSION SO FAR AS YOU’VE TAKEN SIM LAPS?
“I definitely think that it’s gonna add a new passing zone that was never there. You know, just with that whole section before, you would honestly just follow the leader and then the speeds were so fast that even the backstretch chicane didn’t really turn into as big of a passing zone as it could be where now you’re gonna have two more passing zones. So from that standpoint it’s definitely gonna be made more chaotic, but I do think it’s gonna make it a little bit more just in the drivers hands because I think you can find more time now in different areas where before, that whole section was kind of the same speed for everybody. You couldn’t really differentiate yourself that much where now I think you can definitely do that. I’m really excited with what they’ve done and think it’ll be just added value to this racetrack.”
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE AS FAR AS TRACK SURFACE GOES WHEN YOU RACE AT LAS VEGAS IN THE SPRING AND WHEN YOU GO BACK IN THE FALL?
“I would say just the temperature. It seems like it’s always hotter whenever we go there in the fall for whatever reason. The track just races a little bit wider. It’s a little slicker. When we go there in the spring, it’s a little more bottom dominant I feel like, where in the fall you can normally run the fence a little bit easier and do things like that. So to me, I don’t really notice a track change as much as I do just the temperature. I think I was looking the other day, it’s going to be like 100 degrees next week out there, so that should be better for the racing, though, just make it wider. I know when we were there in the spring, it was really bottom dominant, at least the best guys were. So hopefully, that’ll make it better.”
SO IS THE RV IN THE HOSPITAL PARKING LOT OR DID YOU BRING IT HERE?
“No, it’s here. Yeah, for Brooks, he’s going to come with me tomorrow so yeah it’s here.”
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAMES FOR THE TWINS?
“Cooper is Marissa’s maiden name, so that one was kind of easy. T the girl name I honestly don’t know where Marissa really got it other than I know it’s in the movie The Blind Side and I think she’d heard it there maybe once. She wanted names that kind of went together. I was trying to go for Bonnie because there was a Bonnie Briscoe at one point and I thought it was kind of cute and southern, but we ended up going with Collins and I ended up loving it.”
HOW MUCH SLEEP HAVE YOU GOTTEN THIS WEEK?
“More than Marissa for sure. I would say four or five hours a night maybe. That’s being generous though.”
