THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by tonight’s winner, driver and crew chief of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Mustang Dark Horse, Chase Briscoe and Richard Boswell.
We’ll jump right into questions.
Q. I forget which restart it was, but there was a restart where you said 320 employees have your back, we all believe in you, one last chance to win this race for this team and company. That’s a lot of pressure. Did you feel comfortable saying that? What is it like to hear that, the weight of it all?
RICHARD BOSWELL: Yeah, I think Chase knows that it’s a lot of weight. Chase and I had a conversation this week about — before Daytona, thinking that Daytona was maybe our best opportunity. Just kind of the way our season has gone, our speedway stuff, Chase reassured me Saturday night after Daytona that if we brought him our best, he was going to bring our best.
I told our guys in the shop, like we do every week, if we give him what he needs, I can assure you he can win this race.
I think when you back him in a corner like that, we’ve seen it in the past with his career, kind of the path he’s been on, when you back him in a corner, he’s dangerous. I love seeing this Chase Briscoe. I cannot wait to race with this Chase Briscoe for the next 10 weeks.
CHASE BRISCOE: Like Richard said, I think I definitely run better under heavy pressure. For whatever reason, I’ve always been like that.
Yeah, when Richard told me that, I’m like emotional. Everybody knows that. I started tearing up in the car thinking about how much was riding on my shoulders at that point.
But yeah, I love that stuff. Like, I love the Game 7, heavy-pressure moment. For whatever reason, I feel like I do a lot better under those situations than not having a lot of pressure.
Yeah, I put a lot of pressure on myself just going into this week. Last week at Daytona was the worst race by, I mean, a mile I’ve ever raced in my entire career. I was embarrassed, so embarrassed. I texted Richard literally before we got on the plane. I said, I don’t ever want to talk about this race again. We’re not going to talk about it this week. I promise you I’ll make it up to you next week.
Man, I knew it was going to be one of those do or die moments. We talked about it before the race today, this is the last bullet in the chamber. We knew this was going to be a really good opportunity for us based on how we raced in the spring. If we could get our car a little bit better, if we executed all night long, I knew we would be in the mix. We executed. And we were in the mix at the end.
Q. Will you have what you need to make a serious run at this the next 10 weeks?
CHASE BRISCOE: Yeah, 100%. We’ve been shutting down since May, and they haven’t shut us off yet. Yeah, I think we’ll be totally fine.
Obviously it’s going to be an uphill battle, but we feel confident about it.
RICHARD BOSWELL: Yeah, I mean, we’ve known this is coming, right? The questions have been the same every week. We respect the questions because that’s what you guys do and that’s your job. I’ve just tried to remind the guys that it’s our job to build fast race cars, right? We know what people are going to ask. We can’t help that. That’s their job. We respect it.
We’re going to continue to work our butts off. I told Lee Spencer earlier this evening that it’s really sad what’s happening because I’ve been at Stewart-Haas Racing for eight years. This is the best I’ve ever seen four Cup drivers work together, the best I’ve ever seen four crew chiefs work together.
I’ll be honest, like I’ve got four teams helping me for these next three weeks. That’s what I’m looking forward to. I’m looking forward to going to battle with all four teams. I know that we have a group of guys that support this team and are going to do everything that they can.
I think I told Chase at the beginning of the year we needed a mantra for the season and for the year. It was going to be one goal for all. That was the 14. I think tonight that just came full circle and came to fruition.
Q. You’ve been in the position before, but what is it like to have Kyle Busch breathing down your neck in that situation? Did you run those last 10 laps perfectly or…
CHASE BRISCOE: Yeah, I mean, whenever I got the lead, I knew I was going to be in a really good position. Then on the restart, Christopher, when they gave us the one to go, he came up behind me in the one and hit me, told me he was going to give me a huge shove on the start. He obviously did that which got me into the lead.
Two laps later, after I watched Kyle Busch pit behind me, here he is in second. I’m like, You’ve got to be kidding me. I’ve worked 300 some laps to get to the lead, now Kyle is going to steal it from us.
It was definitely déjà vu because that Xfinity race, I was sideways, way loose at the end, he kept running me down and running me down. Yeah, I hit the wall like I did at the Xfinity race with two to go. Yeah, I was waiting for him to do obviously whatever he had to do to get in the Playoffs, too.
Kudos to him for racing me super, super clean. Yeah, the fact that both of my Darlington wins have came trying to hold off Kyle Busch is pretty cool from just a personal note because that guy is one of the greatest of all times.
Yeah, definitely felt like it was 2020 Xfinity all over again.
Q. Going into Daytona it’s always wild card, anybody can win. In this race, it seems like the consensus was it wasn’t going to be anybody’s race. Did you come in here feeling like you could pull the upset tonight?
CHASE BRISCOE: Yeah, I felt like it, for sure. In the spring, we ran fifth here. I think we started 12th. We just nickel-and-dimed our way to fifth. All race long, never could get track position.
This race when I qualified third yesterday, I knew if I could just keep it in the top five, that was the goal from lap one, keep it in the top five. If I do that, I’m going to be in the mix. It was a frustrating night.
I watched Kyle Larson lead 320 laps, I could never get by him. I felt if I could ever get by him, I would be good.
I felt coming into this weekend this was a really good opportunity. Truthfully, I felt way better about coming to Darlington than I ever did Daytona because I felt like we controlled more of our own destiny. I knew that our stuff was going to be good. I felt like I was going to be good because I’m typically good around this place, and I knew that we’d be in the mix.
Q. Richard, we’ve heard a lot from drivers about what’s going on at SHR. From your perspective, what has it been like as the doors are closing? Are you frustrated? Mad?
RICHARD BOSWELL: I think for those of us that have been there for quite some time, it’s sad, right? It sucks. This is family. Every employee there I would have at Christmas dinner.
So that part of it is sad. I think the struggle and the difficulty that’s come with it has been we have a job to do, and that hasn’t changed. Whether it’s 60 hours a week or not, it’s turned into 70. I’ve told people, I can’t tell you how many guys I have in my office every week wondering what do I think, where should I go? I’m worried about my future.
You have to have those conversations just from an empathy standpoint. You have to take those guys in and let them know that you care. That’s just added more work and more hours. I would say that’s been the biggest difference, is just trying to be mindful of what everybody is going through, but also know we have a job to do, try to do our best to bring the best cars we can every week.
Q. Have you got your minds around the idea of you’re in the Playoffs, now you have to plan for the Playoffs? How do you compete against all the power programs, Hendrick drivers, Gibbs drivers, Penske drivers? How is the plan unfolding to be in competition with them?
CHASE BRISCOE: Yeah, I mean, the way I look at it is we got nothing to lose, right? If you can win at Darlington, you can win anywhere on the schedule. This is probably the toughest place to win. It takes the whole package. Your picker has to be on it, car has to be good. It takes everything.
From that standpoint, I feel like it’s totally fine, yeah.
RICHARD BOSWELL: Yeah, I feel the same way. I think this is a big sigh of relief because, man, I think the 14 team is really, really excited about the next three races. We’ve had ’em kind of on our schedule. Just if and how can we find a way to make the Playoffs because we feel like the first three races can be one of our strongest rounds. We had a great run at Atlanta earlier this year. Chase does a great job at Bristol. We were able to do the tire test there. I feel like we made great strides at Watkins Glen last year before we had some tire issues. We’re looking forward to it.
Q. Chase, what does this place mean to you? You talk about the Xfinity win, came in the depths of a despair that people can’t understand. To go through what you’ve gone through this year, tonight, to have your son right there next to you, how do you put it into words?
CHASE BRISCOE: Yeah, it’s hard to put it into words, truthfully. I mean, it’s pretty crazy how God works, right? We come here two days after having a miscarriage, are able to win and beat Kyle Busch. Then four years removed, I win here again beating Kyle Busch, but now I have my son with me. Marissa is here, pregnant with twins that could literally come at any point.
Funny how it all works out, right? Just to have them here, Brooks has never seen me win. Obviously watched it at Phoenix on TV. For him to get to experience this. For Marissa to be here. When I won all those races during COVID, she was never there. Obviously when I won at Phoenix, she wasn’t there. The last race she’s coming to. Yeah, she’s been telling me all weekend, You got to get it done. Think of that as motivation.
Yeah, it’s pretty cool to win with them here. Brooks has actually been telling me the last three days I got to beat Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch. That’s all he told me. To come out where I have to beat Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch, it’s pretty ironic (smiling).
Q. From a racing perspective, talk me through the restart and the three-wide move. Looked like it was a dramatic and daring move. Maybe it was easy to make for you.
CHASE BRISCOE: I need to watch it back. I started inside, second row. Ross was on older tires. I didn’t want to pick behind him. I was kind of bummed when I saw how it played out because I was going to be on the front row with Kyle. I felt like the restart before that I almost beat him heads up.
I was kind of ticked off that I was going to be second row after our pit crew did an incredible job to get the front row. Somehow I got to the top in one and two. I don’t remember if Ty Gibbs cleared me or what. I just remember I tried to get a huge run off of two because I knew they were going to be two-wide. This car gets a really big draft. I got a huge run.
My car, at least everybody that I was racing with up front, my car was the only one that could run the bottom in three and four. I knew early in a run I had that kind of in the back of my mind. I had that big run. Went to the inside. I felt like I was going to be okay even if I had to run the bottom. I was surprised Kyle didn’t cover and block me farther left. Yeah, I knew we were three-wide, but I knew Ross was leading. Stack that middle lane up. I went in there wide open. I knew I was going to literally clear Larson by like an inch. I wasn’t going to let myself not win a crown jewel by not clearing myself on Kyle Larson. The Coke 600, I had the race won with four to go. I let him back by when I was an inch clear.
Yeah, I was just taking it all the way to the wall. I knew that was my only shot to win the race. Like I said, I watched him lead 300 something laps right behind him. I knew my car was just as good as his. It was a matter of who was going to get clean air, and that was the only opportunity I had.
Q. What was it like to get the photo in Victory Lane with Marissa and Brooks?
CHASE BRISCOE: It was super special. I wish Brooks would have rode in the car with me. Oswald smoked him in the head out on the racetrack, he was screaming and crying. So, yeah, I wish I would have got to experience that. I’ll just have to win again with him there.
Yeah, it was super special to be able to get to experience that, for sure. That’s something that we’ll cherish forever. He probably won’t remember it, but I certainly will.
Q. In your seven years with SHR you’ve been through ups and downs. What does it mean to you to have one final shot to win a title with these guys?
CHASE BRISCOE: Yeah, it’s huge. I’m a diehard Stewart-Haas fan, right? That’s the car I cheered for growing up. I’ve seen that car win time and time and time again, win a championship.
It’s been 90 something races since that car has been in Victory Lane. We had 11 chances left to do it. We’ve been decent this year. Been close a couple times. To be able to do it…
It would have been awesome if we won next week. But it would have stunk. At least now we have a chance to go win a championship. We don’t have any Playoff points or anything like that. At the same time we were below the cut line the whole time last time, we went to the Round of 8. We were talking earlier, I kind of love the back up against the wall thing. That’s certainly what we’re going to have now.
We just got to go. If we do what we did tonight, we can beat anybody. It’s just a matter of putting it all together. Our pit crew did an incredible job. Take that through the course of the Playoffs. It’s definitely cool to win for Stewart-Haas.
Tony called. Just to hear how excited he is. Yeah, just for everybody, right? From a morale standpoint, it’s huge at our building. It’s been tough. It’s definitely just a weird time right now there. For me to be there for seven years and be like family with a lot of those guys, it means a lot.
Q. Chase, on the frontstretch you said you were sideways counter steering like you were in a sprint car. With the way that track wears out tires, how did your sprint car experience benefit you tonight?
CHASE BRISCOE: Yeah, it’s huge. Every time you come here, I feel like the dirt guys kind of excel. You still have some guys, like a Denny Hamlin or Truex or guys like that. There at the beginning of the race, it’s me, Reddick, Larson, Bell all up there.
This track is a lot like sprint car racing because you have way more power, you have to be comfortable slipping and sliding around.
The other thing, at this racetrack, more than anywhere else, you constantly searching for grip. You have to search, search, search, try to find grip, manipulate your car to do things it doesn’t want to do. You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable here.
Yeah, it’s no surprise, sprint car guys, dirt guys in general, typically run good here just because we’re used to sliding around.
THE MODERATOR: Chase, Richard, congrats.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
