Chase Briscoe was a trendy pick to go on a deep run in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Those who believed in Briscoe were proven right after his dominant performance in Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Briscoe led 309-of-367 laps, becoming the first driver to win back-to-back Southern 500s since Greg Biffle in 2005 & ’06. Now, Briscoe can relax and prepare for the Round of 12 opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. TJ Majors, spotter for Brad Keselowski, is bullish on Briscoe’s championship chances, he said on Monday’s “Door Bumper Clear” podcast.
“Chase has had a lot of speed this year. I do wonder if the consistency can stay there all throughout the playoffs,” Majors said. “I think he’s proven, I mean, there were a lot of unknowns about Chase going into this. Would he be able to run as good? Obviously, the 19 car has been fast at a lot of these places and Chase is holding up his end of the deal now. I feel like he’s developing a lot this year and he’s taking advantage of it, and I feel like him and [crew chief] James [Small] and the crew are really starting to hit their stride.
“So, I think Chase has a good shot at it. He just needs to when the race comes around, when he’s going to be an eighth-place car, he needs to try to run eighth and take his fifth, sixth or seventh and not try to force something and get himself in trouble. If he can do that and manage some situations, Chase can make a deep run in these playoffs. That car is a really good car.”
Chase Briscoe performing at high level at the right time
Briscoe has quietly been as consistent as any driver in the series over the last couple of months. He won at Pocono Raceway, and finished second at Sonoma Raceway, Dover Motor Speedway and Iowa Speedway.
Sunday night, he put together a remarkable performance at one of the toughest racetracks on the schedule. It gets forgotten that Briscoe replaced a future Hall of Famer in Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 car. Truex had the 19 team competing for championships, and now Briscoe is doing the same. Freddie Kraft, spotter for Bubba Wallace, couldn’t be more impressed by what Briscoe has done this season.
“This kind of validates putting him in this car,” Kraft said. “There were two guys this year I think had to prove something — one was Briscoe, one was [Ryan] Preece. They both have done what they’re supposed to do this year. … You look at the numbers this year for Chase, six poles, which is ridiculous. If he doesn’t screw up a little bit the other day [in qualifying], it was going to be seven. Two wins, 11 top 5s this year.
“You go back and look at Martin’s past couple years, he had 14 top 5s combined in the last two years. He had five last year, no wins, no poles. So, he’s jumped in this thing and is actually outperforming Martin, who was a championship contender year in and year out. Obviously, they hit the nail on the head with Chase, and I think he was in a lot of final fours and he’s showing rightfully so.”
