"We're that motivated right now": Chase Briscoe eyeing his version of Tony Stewart's 2011 championship campaign

Chase Briscoe recently spoke about the sense of motivation his Darlington win has infused within SHR. The team co-owned by Tony Stewart and Gene Haas announced earlier this year that it will close at the end of 2024. This led to a sense of panic and gloominess within the organization with many employees uncertain about their jobs in the coming season.

Briscoe touched on this during an appearance on Dirty Mo Media and noted a "dark and gloomy" feeling within SHR. But because of his win at Darlington, the #14 driver claimed a newfound sense of motivation and excitement in the shop.

"You come into the shop today and everybody is fired up and it's exciting truthfully just because we have absolutely nothing to lose and we're in a totally different spot than every other race team is but that's again also what's exciting for me going into these playoffs is the momentum we have just the chip on our shoulder as a company and just the excitement behind us is unlike anything I've ever seen at SHR." [at 00:10]

"And that's pretty exciting, to be the guy that gets to carry the flag especially in playoffs."

By winning the last race of the regular season and booking his playoff ticket, Briscoe is so motivated that he's aiming to replicate his boss Tony Stewart's 2011 feat. Stewart's third and final NASCAR Cup championship came in an unusual progression of events.

The SHR co-owner went winless for the regular season and made the playoffs. But once the playoffs began, Stewart won two races in a row in the first round, taking his win tally to five races in the playoffs, the last of which came at Homestead, sealing his third Cup title.

Over a decade later, Chase Briscoe is eyeing a similar trajectory.

"It's going to be a wild final 10 weeks and I wouldn't be surprised if we have another Tony Stewart-type 2011 championship run because I feel like as a company, we're that motivated right now and everybody is fired up and it's going to be a lot of fun," Chase Briscoe said. [01:20]

During a recent episode of his podcast show, Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened up on the criticism against the NASCAR playoff system given the two surprise winners.

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Dale Jr. finds Chase Briscoe being inspired by Tony Stewart's 2011 championship run 'cool'

Junior claimed that the playoff system is doing what it should and working as designed by producing "these Cinderella stories" and exciting Game 7 moments. He shared his reaction to Chase Briscoe's comments about replicating Tony Stewart's 2011 championship and said:

"I feel like I like that Chase Briscoe is going into this thinking, 'Hey we can do what Tony Stewart did,' where Tony just showed up, Tony was not a factor in the season, not winning races, he was even telling everybody they were not belonging in the playoffs, they didn't deserve to take a spot, and then they went and won the championship, won 5 races or something in the playoffs." [at 30:00]

"For him [Briscoe], he recognizes that moment because it's so close to his car owner and for him to say, 'Why can't we do that? We can do that.' He really thinks he can, and that's really cool."

In his appearance on Dirty Mo Media, Briscoe claimed that his win couldn't have come at a better point. Had it come during the opening race of the playoffs at Atlanta, it wouldn't have mattered as much because then he wouldn't be racing for a championship. But now that he is in the playoffs, he believes he has given the 300-plus employees at SHR a reason to stay at the organization this season and something to look forward to.