● If you took an informal poll among NASCAR Cup Series drivers and asked them what is their favorite racetrack, Homestead-Miami Speedway would be the most common answer. The 1.5-mile oval located 40 miles south of Miami’s famed South Beach features variable banking and worn asphalt, allowing drivers to run multiple grooves and really drive their racecars through the track’s corners, which go from 18 degrees at the apron to 20 degrees near the wall. It’s why Homestead is most often called a “driver’s track” by the very men who will turn 267 laps at nearly 170 mph for more than three hours this Sunday in the Straight Talk Wireless 400.
● Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Zep Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, will make his fourth NASCAR Cup Series start at Homestead when the green flag drops on Sunday. Seventeenth is his best Cup Series result at the track, earned last year.
● Briscoe’s NASCAR Cup Series stats at Homestead mask the 29-year-old’s true form at the track. In four NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Homestead, Briscoe earned an average finish of sixth. A 13th-place finish in his first Xfinity Series start at Homestead in 2018 was his worst result, as Briscoe knocked down finishes of third, seventh and first in his three starts that followed.
● Briscoe’s final two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Homestead came during a doubleheader weekend in June 2020 amid the COVID pandemic. Adversity was the word of Saturday’s opening race, as Briscoe drove from nearly last in the 37-car field to finish seventh. He was forced to pit shortly after the green flag waved when a piece of equipment fell off his racecar on the pre-race pace lap. Five laps down to start the 167-lap race, Briscoe drove through the field twice in the first 70 laps and used pit strategy to get back onto the lead lap, allowing him to claw his way up to seventh when the checkered flag fell. Though his crew chief, Richard Boswell, was suspended for Sunday’s race as a result of the equipment issue on Saturday, Briscoe returned as strong as ever with Stewart-Haas chief competition officer Greg Zipadelli atop the pit box. Briscoe started ninth, led four times for 11 laps, and outdueled Brandon Jones in a two-lap dash to the finish to win by just .072 of a second.
● A prelude to that determined NASCAR Xfinity Series triumph came in 2017 when in his only NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start at Homestead, Briscoe dominated. He won the pole, led four times for a race-high 81 laps, and handily scored the victory by 2.887 seconds over runner-up Christopher Bell. It was Briscoe’s first win in any of NASCAR’s top-three series – Cup, Xfinity and Truck – and it came in the last race of the season after a slew of near-misses where among Briscoe’s 10 top-five finishes, three were second-place results. The win elevated Briscoe to sixth in the final championship standings and helped him earn both Rookie-of-the-Year honors and the series’ Most Popular Driver award. The victory also sent the team Briscoe was driving for, Brad Keselowski Racing, out on a high note, as it was the organization’s final race, with the team ceasing operation days after Homestead.
● DYK? Briscoe is one of just four drivers who have won in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Homestead, joining Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne. If Briscoe can win Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 NASCAR Cup Series race, he will become only the third driver to win at Homestead across all three of NASCAR’s top series, joining Busch and Harvick.
● Briscoe carries the colors of Zep this weekend at Homestead. Zep is the go-to cleaning brand for professionals and its iconic blue-and-yellow palette adorns Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the Straight Talk Wireless 400. Zep is a leading innovator, producer and distributor of maintenance, cleaning and sanitation solutions for industrial and institutional, retail, and food and beverage customers. Briscoe’s partnership with Zep doesn’t stop on the track, whether in his garage at home or on the Chase Briscoe Racing sprint car hauler that travels to races across the country, Zep is always within reach. A few favorites include Zep’s engine degreaser, foaming glass cleaner, spray cleaner and polish, heavy-duty foaming degreaser, penetrating lubricant and brake cleaner. Said Briscoe: “Whether it’s at the track or at home, Zep is always close by. From its line of cleaning supplies to its car care products, you’ll find Zep inside my race hauler and inside my garage. Whether it’s my sprint car, my street car or my tractor, Zep helps me keep them looking right and running right.”
● Riding along with Briscoe this weekend at Homestead as part of the 50th anniversary of the Ronald McDonald House Charities is the Jett/Ellis Family. Their son, Ahmir, was born with spina bifida and schizencephaly in May. To stay close to their son during his prolonged NICU treatment in a hospital nearly two hours away from their home in Indianapolis, Ahmir’s parents relied on the Ronald McDonald House of Central Indiana. The family chose to be represented on Briscoe’s No. 14 Zep Ford Mustang Dark Horse as Briscoe is also a native Hoosier, hailing from Mitchell.
Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Zep Ford Mustang Dark Horse
You had a mic-drop moment at Homestead in 2017. In your one and only NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start at the track, you won the pole, led the most laps, and won the race, and it came in the season finale and in your final race with Brad Keselowski Racing (BKR), as that team shut down at the end of the year. Talk about that race, the emotion going into it, and the feelings you had after winning.
“That day in 2017 is certainly one I’ll never forget. Your first NASCAR win in any of the top-three series is a big deal, and that was one that I felt like was, obviously, going to be our last shot as a company to win a race since the team was shutting down after that. It’s definitely similar to what we’re going through now. We’d been so close that entire season. I think we ran second three times before and just never quite seemed to be able to jump the final hurdle. And Homestead was a racetrack I was super excited to get to because I felt like it was going to fit my driving style. We got there and just instantly had speed. We were able to sit on the pole, lead the most laps and win the race. It was bittersweet with it being the last race of the year, winning it and knowing that you could’ve been in the Championship 4 and, if you were, then you would’ve been the champion, but it just didn’t work out that way. But it was a really special night just to send BKR out literally on top. Its final race as a company was really, really cool. So, hopefully we can go to Homestead and win in SHR’s final race there because it’s been a really good track for the company.”
Are there some similar emotions going into this year’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead, since it’s also the last year for Stewart-Haas Racing?
“A little bit, just with being in this same position where the team’s going to cease to exist at the end of the year. It’s definitely reminiscent of that. I would say just with how similar that feels and the emotions of the team and things like that, it’s going to be a little bit different since it’s not the very last race of the year, but it’s still one of the last races. So, it’ll feel pretty similar.”
You made four NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Homestead and won in your last start there. That was win No. 3 in your nine-win season. What was that race like and what was that season like, as it all happened amid the COVID pandemic?
“Homestead has always been a track that I’ve been pretty good at. I feel like it’s one of my better racetracks. 2020 was the last time I was able to win there, but that was a doubleheader with the Xfinity car. It was probably one of our strongest performances in the Xfinity car. The day before, it was a back-to-back deal. We went seven laps down and came back to finish seventh, and finish on the lead lap, and then the next day we were able to win the race. It’s a place I always look forward to going to. On the Cup side, I haven’t had as much success, but it’s still a place I feel like I definitely kind of know what I need and know what to look for and just understand how to make speed around that racetrack.”
Success at Homestead in the NASCAR Cup Series has been harder to obtain – three starts with a best finish of 17th, earned last year. What makes success at the Cup level more difficult, and why doesn’t prior success at a venue in another series translate to Cup?
“The first year I went to Homestead in Cup was with the old car, and going there with no practice, no qualifying, just jumping right in, was tough. And then it was one of those tracks where you run the wall, but with the old car you weren’t allowed to touch the fence all day long, and I was just trying to wrap my head around that and kind of struggling. In the Xfinity car, you can kind of beat and bang and hit the wall a couple of times and be OK. And then, in the NextGen era, I would say we’ve been way better than where we’ve finished. We’ve had good speed. In 2022, I remember crashing there and, even last year our car was way better than where we finished. I don’t remember what happened, but we’ve had good speed there, just haven’t been able to put together the finishes to go with it.”
Is there a track on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule that emulates some of the characteristics of Homestead? If so, do you have an indication of how you’ll perform this year at Homestead?
“I feel like Homestead is kind of its own unique animal, but if it relates to any track, I would say it would be Darlington, just with the tire fall off and how much you slip and slide around and how you’ve got to run by the wall.”
Drivers seem to universally praise Homestead. Why do you like racing there, and what are you able to do with a car at Homestead that you can’t do elsewhere?
“It’s just a track where, as a driver, you feel like you can make a huge difference, especially if you can run the wall better than somebody. And the car is changing so much throughout a run from lap one to lap 30, with about three seconds of fall off. As a driver, your car is never driving well, so you feel like you can make up for it. You can slip and slide the car around and just do a lot of different things behind the wheel. When you go to a place like Kansas or somewhere that’s a really high-speed, not-a-lot-of-fall-off track, it just puts it more in the driver’s hands. And I feel like Homestead is a track where you slip and slide around, and just being uncomfortable normally makes a little bit more of a difference. So, for sure, that’s why a lot of the drivers love it.”
● Event: Straight Talk Wireless 400 (Round 34 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 27
● Location: Homestead-Miami Speedway
● Layout: 1.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 267 laps/400.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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