Information By: MIKE ARNING / STEWART-HAAS RACING – KANNAPOLIS, NC
CHASE BRISCOE
Darlington Advance
No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Event Overview
● Event: Cook Out Southern 500 (Round 26 of 36)
● Time/Date: 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 1
● Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
● Layout: 1.366-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 367 laps/501.32 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 115 laps / Stage 2: 115 laps / Final Stage: 137 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Notes of Interest
● The Cook Out Southern 500 will mark Chase Briscoe’s eighth career NASCAR Cup Series start at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. In his last visit to the 1.366-mile oval in May for the Goodyear 400, the Mitchell, Indiana, native scored his first top-10 at the track via a strong fifth-place finish. Briscoe had seemingly been building up to that result, with five top-20 finishes in his six prior Darlington starts to earn an average result of 18.2. His best Cup Series result at Darlington prior to this year was 11th, earned in the 2021 Goodyear 400. Briscoe finished 15th in last year’s Southern 500.
● Darlington is known as “The Track Too Tough To Tame,” but Briscoe has tamed the venerable, egg-shaped oval in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He scored a dramatic victory at Darlington on May 21, 2020, beating Kyle Busch in a fender-scraping, tire-rubbing duel where the margin of victory was just .086 of a second. Both Briscoe and Busch led 45 laps that day, but Briscoe led the lap that mattered most as he took the lead from Busch on the final lap. It was the fourth victory in Briscoe’s tally of 11 career Xfinity Series wins. In Briscoe’s two other Xfinity Series starts at Darlington, he finished sixth (August 2019) and 11th (September 2020).
● The 2024 season marks Darlington’s 74th anniversary, with the track having hosted 126 NASCAR Cup Series races. The first came on Sept. 4, 1950 and it was the first 500-mile race in NASCAR history and the first on asphalt. Johnny Mantz drove his Plymouth to the win with an average speed of 75.250 mph and the race took 6 hours, 38 minutes and 40 seconds to complete. Juxtapose that with Kyle Larson’s win in last year’s Southern 500, where he had an average speed of 120.906 mph and the race finished in 4 hours, 8 minutes and 47 seconds.
● In addition to Darlington being known as “The Track Too Tough To Tame,” the venerable facility has another nickname, “Lady in Black.” This moniker was bestowed upon Darlington by the late sportswriter and 2016 Squier-Hall Award recipient Benny Phillips. In homage to the “Lady in Black,” Briscoe is driving a black-and-white HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the Southern 500 in place of HighPoint.com’s traditional blue-and-white colors.
● 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 Racing 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.”
Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang
How do you feel about Darlington serving as the regular-season finale and the last chance for drivers to earn a playoff berth?
“I like it. I love going to Darlington. It’s easily in the top-three of my favorite racetracks. I’m all for it. It’s a cool race to have for the opener of the playoffs because the Southern 500 can have so many things happen and it’s just a real challenge for the drivers, the cars, everything. I liked it as the playoff opener and as the regular-season closer. We finished fifth there earlier this year and I feel like it’s a really good opportunity for us to go there and be in the mix and maybe get a win. The Southern 500 is one of the crown jewels and it’s going to be a cool race, no matter if it’s in the playoffs or not.”
Do you feel like a race at Darlington is more in your hands, as opposed last week at Daytona where you had to rely on others to push you in the draft?
“As a racecar driver, you definitely have more control over your own destiny at Darlington than you do at a place like Daytona. You know at Daytona you can do everything right and just get caught up in someone else’s mistake. Not that that can’t happen at Darlington, but the odds and the chances of it aren’t as great. There still are a lot of variables there, too. At Darlington, your car has to be driving good. At Daytona, your car doesn’t have to be driving as good to be up in the mix. There’s give and take at both of them, but certainly at Darlington, I feel like when we go there I kind of hold the keys a little bit more as far as what happens and how we run. I’m looking forward to going there, but like I said, the car has to be good, too. That’s kind of the fine balance. At Daytona, you can take whatever car and, if you put yourself in the right position and make the right moves, you can be there at the end, where at Darlington, a driver probably makes a little bit more of a difference, but you also have to have a really good car to be up front.”
You finished a strong fifth in your first visit to Darlington earlier this year. How did that race unfold for you and are there any takeaways from it that you can apply to your return trip to Darlington this Labor Day weekend?
“Darlington was a track where we just ran solid all day. We were never the fastest car on the racetrack, and we probably finished about where we should’ve. We were about a fifth-place car and I thought we did a really good job of maximizing our day and doing everything right to put ourselves into that position. If we could’ve qualified better, it would’ve made our job a little bit easier. Coming off a fifth-place finish the last time we were there is obviously encouraging because we knew we had a pretty good car. I think Josh (Berry) ran third there, too. He was up in the mix. We had two really good cars that day and we knew we had a good balance and speed, but we also need to get our cars a little bit better. We have a good foundation, we have a good baseline, and that allows us to kind of fine-tune that and just make our car a little better and not have to reinvent the wheel, which is always nice.”
The Southern 500 is 100 miles longer (74 additional laps) than your first race at Darlington was back in May. Is a race at Darlington akin to the Coca-Cola 600, where it’s a test of stamina as much of a test of skill?
“I would say the Southern 500 is harder than the Coke 600 because at the Coke 600, you run the top, but you don’t run a quarter of an inch off the fence like you do at Darlington. At Darlington, you just can’t take a single break. We’re downshifting, riding the wall, and the car’s slipping and sliding all over the place. It’s just a different style than what you have at Charlotte. I definitely think it’s very similar to the Coke 600 from a stamina standpoint and just how you have to get your car to the end. That’s the thing I would say is a little bit more challenging at a place like Darlington than it is at the Coke 600. At the Coke 600, you don’t put your car in as bad of a spot running the wall, where at Darlington, to make speed, you’re going to have to run the fence, so you’re going to get into it at some point. It’s a challenge, for sure, but honestly it’s one of my favorite races of the year. I love going there and know I’m going to be running 500 miles on the fence and slipping and sliding around. It’s just a ton of fun from the driver side of things.”
How much can you rip the wall at Darlington before you rip your car into pieces?
“You can do it all day if you’re good. It’s definitely easy to get caught up there and get into the wall because it just invites you. The closer and closer you get to the wall, the more and more speed you make. And you hear about it, right? It’s the Lady in Black, she invites you to keep running in there harder, and then you drive harder and flirt with her and dance with her a little bit more, and then she slaps you. It’s always a challenge there because it is 100-percent faster the closer you run to the wall, and then you try to get that little bit extra and then you’re into the wall. It’s different than any other racetrack. At every other racetrack, you kind of lift at the same spot, you use the same amount of brake, whereas at Darlington the tires are falling off so much, literally every single lap you run, nothing is the same, so you’re constantly changing, and that’s what makes it so challenging.”
When you finish a race at Darlington, regardless of where you finish, is there a sense of accomplishment?
“I felt like early in my career when I ran the whole day and I finished and I didn’t crash, that was good, but I feel like now you don’t necessarily have that same level of accomplishment. It’s almost one of those things where if you come in and the right side’s not torn up, you’re like, ‘Man, I probably wasn’t driving hard enough.’ You kind of want the whole right side destroyed by the end of it because if you come in at the end of the day with a clean car, you’re probably not driving hard enough.”
What makes Darlington challenging for you?
“Darlington’s been a place where I’ve had success in the past, and it’s always been a place where I feel like I understand what I need. And I’ve always been good there. I’ve never been necessarily great at Darlington, but I’ve always been kind of OK from a speed standpoint. That first time I went there in the Cup Series was still in the old car and it drove a lot like what I grew up racing there as far as the Xfinity stuff goes. The NextGen car has been a little bit more of a struggle, just because how I drove Darlington didn’t necessarily fit the current generation of car. I’ve had to change my style there over the last year. I feel like every time we’ve gone there we’ve gotten better and better.”
When you won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington in May 2020, you had to beat Kyle Busch. How big of a deal was that victory, and do you consider it one of your greatest victories?
“I would say that win certainly put me on the map as far as having conversations about going Cup racing. Before that, I don’t think anybody thought I was necessarily Cup-caliber, and I felt like after winning there, beating Kyle Busch and doing it the way we did it, being literally just heads-up and being able to outrun him there changed a lot of people’s perspectives. I know for me it was huge just from a confidence standpoint. I mean, I beat Kyle Busch in an Xfinity car and I did it at, of all places, Darlington. So just from a confidence level, that was big for me, and every time I’ve gone back there, I feel like that’s kind of just carried over, just knowing that you beat one of the best to ever run around this place. I know that I’m capable of doing it, it’s just a matter of putting all of those pieces back together. But certainly I would say that was one of the biggest wins of my career. Still, literally every single weekend, somebody brings that race up to me, like a fan does, and they don’t do that about other races. So, certainly it was one of the biggest wins of my career.”
Do you feel like you go back in time when you go to Darlington?
“Every time you go to Darlington, it’s like you’re stepping into a time machine. Just the racetrack, it doesn’t matter what era of racecar you put on it, whether it’s a NextGen, a Gen 4, 5, 6, it’s like none of them are going to drive that good, they’re all going to be slipping and sliding around, the tires are going to get worn out, you’re going to have more power than you need, and that’s unlike a lot of racetracks we go to. And then even the facility, it’s not the fanciest facility we go to, it doesn’t have the nicest things for fans, realistically. But when you go there, you know you’re not going for that, you’re going for that authentic, early NASCAR experience, and that’s what it feels like when you drive through the tunnel at Darlington. Whether you’re in the garage area or you’re on the racetrack, it doesn’t matter where you’re at on those grounds, it just feels very sacred and just feels like you’re in a time machine.”
You’re in a NextGen car. You wear a full-face, state-of-the-art helmet, combined with a state-of-the-art firesuit and shoes, and a six-way seatbelt system keeps you secure in a custom-molded seat. Do you ever wonder how a guy like Richard Petty ran 500 miles at Darlington in overalls and whatever helmet he could find, in a car not far removed from what was on the dealership floor?
“It is crazy just to think about the roots of NASCAR, and just the roots of racing, in general, like how far we’ve come in not a long period of time. You think about how they were literally taking cars pretty much from the showroom, guys were out there racing in their street clothes and pretty much anything they could get on their head that would work – it could be a bucket and they would run with it. It’s pretty crazy just how far we’ve come. Even talking with my dad about his early days in sprint cars, it literally had four Dzus buttons that you would take out with a flathead screwdriver, it was a quarter turn, that’s all that would lock their seat in, and that was it. You just wouldn’t even think about doing that these days. It’s definitely wild to think about how far we’ve come as just a culture with motorsports, and certainly glad that we’ve come that far, but yeah, those guys were certainly stallions in a world of ponies.”