Chase Briscoe has particularly fond memories of Pocono Raceway. It’s where he celebrated his first victory as a member of the championship Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota organization last summer – that win kickstarting a three-trophy season – the most trophies he’s ever won in a single year in the NASCAR Cup Series.
To do it, Briscoe had to beat the best – literally, Pocono’s very best – his teammate, Denny Hamlin. But Briscoe held off the seven-time Pocono winner by more than half a second and led a race best 72 laps – including the final 34.
He’d love for Pocono to kickstart another strong title run this weekend. The 31-year-old is ranked 13th in the championship standings with seven top-10 finishes. However, the last month and a half has been a challenge for Briscoe. He’s had top-10 finishes in the last two races, but prior to that endured a streak of three sub-20th-place showings in a four-race span (at Talladega, Ala., Texas and Charlotte) that cost him some points.
Briscoe said he feels the good vibes as the defending Pocono winner, however, and is optimistic about his chances this weekend. He’s hoping to become the first back-to-back winner since Kyle Busch (2018-19).
“I feel like our prep work is dialed in,” Briscoe said of his No. 19 team’s situation. “I would say that the pressure, honestly, kind of, it’s a little bit different because last year I felt like I had to perform to maintain my job, which I still need to do that, right? But the pressure now is more in a sense of like, man, I haven’t went to Victory Lane this year and last year I was able to win three races and just from a point standpoint.
“Now the expectation is there, where when I came into this weekend last year, I felt like I could win, but I’d never done it at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing). It wasn’t necessarily the expectation. So, it’s just, it’s different from that mindset. But the pressure, I feel like, is very similar.
“I obviously want to race for a championship and as a team, we feel like we need to be top five in points at the end of the regular season to really do that, and so I’m 100 points out right now. So, the pressure from that standpoint is very similar. Just knowing that I have to have a good weekend and just knowing that a win could really be the difference maker in getting to that point.”
Briscoe starts 5th Sunday.
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