The newbie in Joe Gibbs Racing is quietly stacking good finishes. The Cup Series team has been on a high this season, with Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin fetching 5 of the 9 trophies so far! But at the same time, Chase Briscoe is silently adapting. His transition from Stewart-Haas Racing to JGR’s Toyota camp has not been easy. Yet, Briscoe is constantly proving that he is worth every fiber of JGR’s winning fabric.

Since the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season kicked off, Chase Briscoe has started consistently fetching top finishes. Working with Martin Truex Jr.’s old No. 19 team, he washed up in fourth place at Daytona and Homestead. In the recently concluded race at Bristol, the same fate visited Briscoe – although he firmly believes it could have been better.

Chase Briscoe holds his head high

After all, the former SHR star closed 2024 with a bang. Chase Briscoe cracked the playoffs by winning the last regular season race at Darlington Raceway. In 2025, he made sure to continue that form – but challenges were on the table. Briscoe took time to familiarize himself with the No. 19 JGR car. He was more than happy to do a Goodyear tire test in March at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He said that he was just “(trying) to get myself more and more acclimated to how their cars drive.” From changing his style of driving to adjusting the way he attacks a lap, Briscoe worked on his techniques. The result was more than spectacular at the Food City 500 race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Rolling off the starting grid in 14th place, Chase Briscoe was not much of a factor at first. He could crack the top ten only at the end of stage 2 when he was 8th. The final 235 laps proved a golden opportunity for him, as it was a long green flag run with no caution flags. In a post-race interview, Briscoe slipped out his bubbling confidence in having the potential to win. “After the green-flag pit stop, the car was phenomenal, truthfully. I felt like I could have been in the lead… but you know, you’re coming from so far behind. I was able to pass quite a few of the good cars.” Briscoe finished 4th behind Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and Ty Gibbs.

Chase Briscoe was part of a Joe Gibbs Racing battalion that finished in the top ten. He found himself battling teammate Ty Gibbs for a podium finish and explained why he could not beat Gibbs at the end. “I think I ran the 54 [Ty Gibbs] down almost in the straightaway and a half. Yeah, it felt really, really good at the end. Just ran out of laps, fighting for track position. I had one restart where I bottomed down and lost 5 or 6 spots. If I could have restarted that final start with 200 or something to go… probably would have been a whole different story.”

Ultimately, Chase Briscoe patted himself on the back for finally warming up to his JGR team. He said there is still a long way to go. “I would say today was the first race that I’ve felt really, really comfortable outside of Homestead. Yeah, I don’t know. There’s still definitely some little things that I’m still trying to get the feel for. James is obviously trying to figure me out as well. So it’s going to take a little bit of time. But I would say it’s encouraging – the finishes and the speed we’ve had… We don’t feel like 100% at all, and we’re still running up front.”

His crew chief, James Small, is coming off a tumultuous season with veteran Martin Truex Jr. in 2024, where the duo did not manage to win a race. Now, with Briscoe at the helm, they are performing above expectations for a new driver-crew chief duo. With three top-5 and 4 top-10 finishes in 9 races so far, Briscoe sits 13th in the standings. All he needs is a win to secure a playoff spot, and at the pace at which they are going, it won’t be long until the #19 sees the checkered flag.

Chase Briscoe is finally counting himself as part of the JGR family. That family dominated the front row in Bristol – until Kyle Larson beat all of them. But they are happy to accept that.

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Hailing his rival for a solid tribute

Over the past weekend, the NASCAR community lost some precious jewels. Al Pearce, a prominent NASCAR reporter and road warrior, passed away at 82 years of age. Then, almost a week ago, former driver and championship-winning Craftsman Truck Series owner Shigeaki Hattori died in a highway crash at 61. Hendrick Motorsports also lost its communications director, Jon Edwards. This made a profound impact on Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevy, for whom Edwards was a PR manager.

Although Larson’s original aim to complete a weekend sweep in Bristol turned to dust in the Truck race, he was determined nonetheless. He wanted to dedicate his Xfinity and Cup Series trophies to Edwards, with whom he closely worked until recently. And Larson got it done – he won the Xfinity race dominantly and then led for 411 of 500 laps to win the Food City 500 race.

Denny Hamlin, no matter how much he wished to defend his spring Bristol trophy, saluted Kyle Larson for his efforts. After finishing second, Hamlin yielded to Larson’s glory: “You have to give that team their due — just a dominant performance. It looked like a pretty flawless day for them. It looked pretty easy. It was all I had to try to keep up there. I’m glad we were able to give him a little bit of a run with our Progressive Toyota. But this weekend, we are all thinking about Jon Edwards’ family, Al Pearce, Shige Hattori. We’ve lost a lot of great people in our sport over the last week, so our thoughts are with them.”

Evidently, positive vibes are flowing through the NASCAR Cup Series fold. With another top-five finish, Chase Briscoe can look forward to pushing forward his game in the next races as Joe Gibbs Racing remains a consistent contender every week.