Chase Briscoe is set to undergo a crew chief swap at Stewart-Haas Racing as he heads into the NASCAR Playoffs at Kansas Speedway.
In an effort to boost Briscoe’s performance in the next stage of the Cup Series playoffs, SHR has decided to swap over-the-wall pit crews between Briscoe and Josh Berry, as revealed by FOX Sports reporter Bob Pockrass.
Pit-crew change for Round of 12 driver Chase Briscoe as SHR is making a swap of over-the-wall crews — Briscoe now has the over-the-wall crew that has done Josh Berry this year while Berry gets Briscoe crew.
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) September 26, 2024
Although Briscoe and Berry are both competent drivers, Berry’s pit crew has consistently demonstrated exceptional performance throughout the season. Berry, not being a playoff contender, is less in need of top-tier pit support, making the swap a logical decision to maximize SHR’s overall performance at this point in the season.
Briscoe’s win at Darlington qualified him for the playoffs and his subsequent performances have seen a P6 finish at Watkins Glen and a P8 finish at Bristol, securing his advancement to the Round of 12 with relative ease.
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
Kansas Speedway will act as the first test ground for Briscoe’s new crew setup. Historically, Briscoe has had a mixed relationship with the track, with his best qualifying position being P10 and his best finish at P13.
His performance in the Next Gen car at Kansas has similarly been underwhelming, with finishes at P24, P12, P32, P19, and P21. The question arises whether this pit crew change can substantially improve his performance at Kansas, given his historical struggles there.
Speaking after the race at Bristol which saw him through to the Round of 12, Briscoe commented, as quoted by NASCAR.com:
“The only time I had any concern the entire time is when I was sitting on the backstretch unbuckling after crashing,” Briscoe said.
“And then when the race played out at Atlanta, we were sitting there at the airport and it literally just showed minus-21. I took a screenshot of it, sent it to our team guys, and I said, ‘doable.’ That’s all I said.
“I mean, we were 21 or 19 [points] out the last time we came to Bristol for the [elimination] race and we made up that. So yeah, I wasn’t really concerned at all being 21 down. I felt really confident about it.”
With SHR bringing its NASCAR team to a close, Briscoe is moving to Joe Gibbs Racing next year.
NASCAR Cup Series: Playoffs Standings
- Kyle Larson – +39
- Christopher Bell – +24
- Tyler Reddick – +20
- William Byron – +14
- Ryan Blaney – +11
- Denny Hamlin – +7
- Chase Elliott – +6
- Joey Logano – +4
On The Bubble: - Austin Cindric – -4
- Daniel Suárez – -6
- Alex Bowman – -7
- Chase Briscoe – -7
