In many ways, Chase Briscoe and crew chief James Small entered this season feeling as though they were racing for their careers and now they are going to Phoenix to race for the Cup Series championship.
On its face, that sounds kind of crazy because Small won eight times with Martin Truex Jr., including three races back in 2023. Briscoe signed a multi-year deal with Gibbs at the start of this season but needed to immediately validate it.
So, yeah, they had something to prove as articulated by JGR competition director Chris Gabehart on Sunday after their victory at Talladega Superspeedway.
“There was actually a lot of unknowns … this kind of background pressure going into the year,” Gabehart told Motorsport.com after the race. “Chase came on board but of equal importance was JD Frey coming on as car chief and Kyle Abrahams replacing an engineer with a ton of tenure but as a young man aspiring to greatness in this sport.
“So then you got James Small and Chase as the nucleus two young guys that knew this was it, this was do or die. They had to put up or shut up and get it done. I told them in January that this could be a potent combination with the amount of resources that Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota was placing behind them and sure enough, here they are going to the final four. I could not be prouder of everyone.”
Watch: Small: ‘Never lost belief in myself or my team’ despite doubters
Small said he was not ‘immune’ to the perception that he wasn’t meeting expectations in some circles.
“When we have years like last year, so close to winning so many races, but we didn’t win any, people have very short memories of the success we had before,” Small said. “It was a little bit of a roller coaster when you look at (2021) to (2022) and then (2023) to (2024).
“I never lost belief in myself or my team. I always had the support of everybody back at JGR. I knew if we had this opportunity, it was going to take a little bit, but we were going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
Small was also quick to point out that no one has more wins, poles and points since the start of the playoffs.
“Now we’re going to Phoenix,” he said. “I’m thankful (that) we have the best people working on our team. We have the greatest people back at JGR. It’s just a pleasure to be able to represent them.”
Chase Briscoe wins, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images
For his part, Briscoe opened this season by telling the media that if he couldn’t win at Joe Gibbs Racing, he needed to find a new career so it’s extra validating to put that kind of pressure on himself and break through.
“Yeah, I definitely felt like we were capable of this,” Briscoe said. “It’s rewarding now that it’s actually been done. It’s satisfying for sure. Yeah, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel like we were capable of doing it.
“That’s why I said even what I said at the beginning of the year – ‘if I don’t go win, I’m never going to get hired again’ because the expectation is you have to go to JGR and win. If you can’t win in a JGR car, why would anybody hire you for another team?”
So now Briscoe has won three times and has a one-in-four chance to join many of his racing heroes, immortalized as NASCAR Hall of Famers and legends.
“I talked about it after the Southern 500,” Briscoe said. “Just seeing the names and the faces on that trophy, it’s like, ‘Man, I don’t belong to be on this thing.’ If you looked at the championship one, it’s crazy to think that my name could even relatively be close to those guys.
“So yeah, I mean, it would be cool. As a kid, you dream of that moment. To be this close now to it, yeah, it would be devastating if it doesn’t work out but there’s also more to life in the big picture than winning the championship.”
With Briscoe repeatedly feeling like he is still on audition for the three-time Super Bowl winning head coach, does Joe Gibbs feel any consideration to just locking his newest driver down for the next decade?
He offered a hearty laugh.
“You shouldn’t have brought that up,” said Gibbs, still laughing. “Okay, do not suggest 10-year contracts.”
But then.
“I think right now he can get anything he wants. I’ll put it that way.”
Small objected with a chuckle.
“You have to keep him on the edge,” he said. “You got to keep him hungry.”
Briscoe, who wasn’t in the room for this exchange, says he felt compelled to call Coach right then and there to start negotiating.
Regardless of the unlikely event of Briscoe and Small getting 10-year contracts, it’s clear that they have earned their continued place at the Toyota Racing North America flagship. They are not racing for their jobs anymore.
They have a championship to win and Gibbs hopes that’s the case for the foreseeable future.
“Anyway, look, I think when you see something like this, James and Chase, you just say to yourself, ‘This is hard to do, so ride this.’ This is what we want to do going forward for a long time. I’ll just put it that way.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Team
