Chase Briscoe and his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing team have their backs against the wall once again.
Six races ago, Briscoe needed a victory at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway to secure a berth into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. He did just that and gave a soon-to-be closing SHR team much needed life in their final 10 races of competition together.
Flash forward into the Round of 12 and the pairing will need another trip to victory lane in Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Road Course to keep its championship hopes alive.
Briscoe is 12th on the playoff grid, 32 markers below the cutline, pinning the team in a must-win situation.
“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,” Briscoe began.
“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 cutline 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,” Briscoe continued.
“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.”
In three previous starts at the ROVAL, Briscoe has one top-10 result (ninth in 2022). He earned a victory in 2018 while competing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the track.
Heading into the weekend, Briscoe’s mindset is similar to the one he had prior to Darlington. Briscoe stated simply, “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,” Briscoe said. “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.”