The No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing driver and his team have taken on a “why not us” mentality since arriving in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff field, despite Briscoe’s surprising last-minute addition.
The group has the ideal model to strive after in Briscoe, who has brought it up numerous times since the Southern 500 on Sunday night.
Tony Stewart, the co-owner of the team and a hero to Briscoe, finished the 2011 regular season winless before winning half of the postseason races and taking home the championship.
The team is once again operating on the belief that it is capable of rallying from behind to win a title.
“A large portion of Stewart-Haas Racing’s composition can be attributed to Tony and his mental toughness and accomplishments,” Briscoe stated.
In athletics, momentum can be a strange thing. I brought up North Carolina State’s run in the NCAA basketball playoffs.
They go from winning the ACC tournament and making it all the way to the Final Four without even thinking they would make it to the NCAA tournament, and I think we can all relate to that because momentum and confidence go a long way.
“At this point, I can’t think of a team that possesses greater confidence and momentum than us.
Simply said, this postseason season seems unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
Briscoe’s victory in the Phoenix Raceway spring race in 2022 earned him a postseason spot.
After thinking about the postseason for 23 weeks, his team’s situation has changed, especially in light of Briscoe’s selection. Briscoe expressed his excitement, saying, “I really feel like if we can get to Phoenix, we can get it done there.” “We’ve demonstrated it once already.”
Apart from Briscoe, no other driver is eligible for a title with Stewart-Haas Racing.
It is in Briscoe’s advantage that all emphasis be focused on supporting his efforts throughout the remainder of the season, even though the organization undoubtedly desired more.
Additionally, since the news that Briscoe is closing down was released, there hasn’t been any turnover on the road crew or pit crew.
While some of the race shop employees have departed, Briscoe will fight alongside his core group of friends.
“Everyone from [No.] 14—at least the guys on the road crew—met at the setup plate the day we found out.
They literally looked at each other in the eye and proceeded in a circle, one by one, saying, ‘I’m in, I’m in, I’m in,’ until the end of the year,” said Briscoe.
We were going to finish, so it didn’t matter if we finished in 35th place.A few members of the other teams have left.
But, I believe that now that there’s a chance we could win a title, it will be much more difficult for guys to quit.
“The entire industry would have likely been the gloomiest and darkest shop on Tuesday morning if a Stewart-Haas car hadn’t won on Sunday night,” he said.
And right now, we’re perhaps the most energized, electric shop. Or, at the very least, the most energized Stewart-Haas I’ve ever seen. There’s a bounce in everyone’s step.
Everyone is thrilled, and in all honesty, it would have been difficult to get cars to the track during the last ten weeks if Stewart-Haas’s car hadn’t won on Sunday night. In addition, things would have likely been shut off and other negative things would have happened.
Thus, from the perspective of what it means for Stewart-Haas Racing, it’s pretty damn great that we were able to win that race.
Thus, I’m undoubtedly thrilled. It’s one of those situations, in my opinion, where everyone believes they can truly win the title.
This is obviously absurd coming from a player who wasn’t even in the playoffs until a few days ago. On the inside, though, I think everyone believes it.
We kind of have the same mentality as Tony—”If we can win the Southern 500, why can’t we win more?”—after watching him accomplish it in 2011.