(UNDATED) – This week, Stewart-Haas Racing announced Chase Briscoe, of Mitchell, is being promoted to the Cup Series. Briscoe will take over Tony Stewart’s old ride – the No. 14 entry.
Briscoe is a nine-race winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2020 and heir to motorsports’ iconic No. 14.
Veteran NASCAR Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer is leaving racing to take a seat in the Fox Sports TV booth next season
“To me it’s more than just a number,” Briscoe said during a Zoom meeting with national media on Tuesday. “I truly care about that number and the history of that number going from A.J. Foyt to Tony Stewart and even Clint. There’s a lot of pride in that number being a dirt track guy and to drive that car and drive for Stewart-Haas. It’s still unbelievable. I’ve been texting with my mom and dad and wife about how it all just doesn’t seem real. I’m ready to get to Daytona though, that’s for sure.”
Briscoe is scheduled to make his debut in the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang in the 2021 Daytona 500, NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl, at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 14.
“It is super humbling to think that the 14 car is going to be driven by me next year,” Briscoe said. “To me, there are only a few numbers in NASCAR that have a lot of significance and the 14 is certainly up there.”
He will finish his Xfinity at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, site of Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 (3 p.m., CDT, NBC Sports Network). Briscoe will start the 200-lap/300-miler around TMS’ high-banked/1.5-mile oval from pole position.
Briscoe set a Ford Racing season record for Xfinity Series wins with his ninth last Saturday at Kansas Speedway. The previous mark of eight was set by Carl Edwards in 2011. Briscoe swept both stages and led 159 of 200 laps around the 1.5-mile oval. Briscoe’s victory secured the first spot in the series’ Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 7, where a title and trophy would put an exclamation point on a blockbuster season.
Brisco a native of Mitchell and a diehard Tony Stewart fan said driving for Stewart-Haas is a dream come true.
Briscoe has compiled 11 wins, 30 top-five, 50 top-10 and two poles during a three-year Xfinity career that began in 2018.
Bowyer’s 538-race Cup resume features 10 wins, 82 top-fives, 225 top-10s and four poles dating to his single-race debut in 2005.
“I love Clint,” said Tony Stewart, a three-time Cup champion. “You’re not gonna have more fun with anybody than Clint Bowyer and you’re not gonna have anybody that’s got any more passion, drive and desire than Clint Bowyer, so losing him is a detriment, obviously. But looking down the road in the future of Stewart-Haas Racing, knowing that Clint was going to the booth we had an opportunity to get Chase – I think now is the right time to get him in a car and work on the future. He’s very, very diligent about making sure he learns from everything that happens on the race track, and he’s got a pretty good memory bank to hold all of that knowledge in. The competition level goes up when you go to the Cup Series, but we feel and have a lot of confidence that Chase has what it takes to be a great Cup driver.”
