For Chase Briscoe, stock car racing seemed an unrealistic goal.
Having excelled on dirt, switching to pavement racing was never really the plan. Then he participated – and finished second – in the 2013 PEAK Stock Car Challenge. Soon thereafter, Briscoe made a move to North Carolina, slept on couches, and volunteered at shops while looking for a big break.
Three years later, Briscoe’s a success story.
“I ended up going to one shop, and they let me have a test session, and that’s the team I drove for last year and won the championship with,” Briscoe said of Cunningham Motorsports in the ARCA Racing Series.
However, entering the year, Briscoe had just a handful of asphalt starts under his belt. Which made his unstoppable season hard to ignore. In 20 races, Briscoe earned six wins, six poles, with 14 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes, and 949 laps led.
This year, Briscoe takes the next step with a full-time ride in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In the Ford Performance driver development program, Briscoe will pilot Brad Keselowski Racing’s No. 29 truck.
“The biggest thing going from dirt to asphalt is the patience when it comes to racing on pavement,” Briscoe said. “Two-hundred miles is a long time, and I’m used to 25 laps. There’s a lot more that can happen and a lot more you can control in longer races.
“There’s many opportunities to throw a race away when you’re going 200 miles, whether it’s on pit road or restarts. So, I think the biggest thing (I’ve learned) is trying to execute an entire race. That’s the one thing I’ve really tried to make myself better at over the past year.”
Briscoe’s quick adaption to pavement is as impressive as his signing with BKR.
During his time volunteering at race shops, Briscoe crossed paths with Brian Keselowski, who encouraged his move south. Brian was also in brother and team owner Brad’s ear about Briscoe.
Briscoe didn’t wait around. When Austin Theriault was hurt driving for BKR in late 2015, Briscoe went and offered his services. Then during his ARCA tear, Briscoe was introduced to Brad. By the time Briscoe won the championship, he was offered the truck deal.
“My goal is going to be just like it was in the ARCA,” Briscoe said. “William Byron set the bar really high as far as rookie wins go. I’d love to beat that and hopefully beat it by a couple. Winning the championship (would) be big, it’s a different format than what I ran with ARCA, but if you can win races, it rewards you. So, win races and hopefully a championship.”
As for sleeping on couches, it wasn’t all bad.
“Christopher Bell was there,” Briscoe said of his friend. “Bell had the spare bedroom with the air mattress, and I was on the couch … It’ll be fun racing with him; it’s nice to have somebody that I know that I can go to who has experience with trucks like he does from last year.”