Chase Briscoe is the only Playoff driver who can take a breath in the Round of 16. His dominant win at Darlington locks him into the next round of the postseason while every other driver still has to fight.
However, while that means he could take it easy in the next two races in the round at Gateway and Bristol, Briscoe said that’s not his style and his focus remains maximizing every week.
“I think for me, I want to keep the intensity up,” Briscoe said. “Just, naturally, I can’t take off. Truthfully – I don’t know how many laps the race is tomorrow – but I hope that we lead every one of them and do it again.”
That’s reflected in his approach to the Playoffs overall. Briscoe explained that he comes to every race, whether in the regular season or postseason, with the same intensity and the same focus on winning.
“Even last week, I never once felt like it was a Playoff race or honestly, thought about the Playoffs starting. Very much just feels like another week going to the race track this week,” he explained.
It’s not like Gateway and Bristol suddenly don’t matter at all, anyway. Briscoe might not need any points to the next round, but wins and stage wins still pay Playoff points which carry over to all of the next rounds and can become critical when points are needed.
“For us, the biggest thing, probably was the Playoff points that we gained,” he summarized the Darlington win. “I think we went from 10 to 17, so basically doubled our Playoff points for the next round.”
The only thing that has changed for these last two races is his level of tolerance to risk. A win in the bank makes it easier to gamble, such as staying out in a caution before the stage to pick up the Playoff point or making more aggressive fuel strategy calls.
His prep during the week hasn’t changed at all. Briscoe spoke ahead of Gateway about the impact of simulator time on his No. 19 team’s progress this year, but said that he didn’t spend any time testing at Gateway or Bristol in the week after the win.
“For us, we kind of just take it week-by-week. Like, this week, we just focused on this racetrack. But I would imagine next week, certainly, we will sprinkle in – whether it is an hour or whatever – New Hampshire,” he explained the strategy.
“I’m sure my teams and engineers are looking already at New Hampshire, but as far as me personally, from a driver sim standpoint, I haven’t done anything.”
Whatever his approach, it’s clearly worked for Briscoe so far to get him in the Playoffs and get him out of the first round.
- Slimmed Playoff Field Faces the Grind of the Magic Mile - September 18, 2025
- From Spinning to Winning: Riggs Punches Ticket to Next Round - September 11, 2025
- Denny Hamlin Knows His Career Expiration Date - September 8, 2025