Chase Briscoe has shared his thoughts on his progress during the 2025 season with Joe Gibbs Racing, marking a significant transition from his previous stint at Stewart-Haas Racing. Since joining JGR this year, Briscoe has shown promising signs, but he believes there is still room to grow as he adapts in his new environment.
Briscoe spent four seasons with Stewart-Haas Racing, where he secured a couple of Cup Series wins while driving the #14 car from 2021 to 2024. Now piloting the #19 car for Joe Gibbs Racing, his performance so far includes four top-five finishes in his first 12 starts, the highest number of such results this early in a season during his career.
Despite these encouraging stats, Briscoe expressed that he has not fully met his own expectations this season. He emphasized his primary goal remains winning races, beyond just solid placements.
“I wanted just to win, truthfully. The top-fives are great, right? I think I’m only one behind my career high, ever, and we are 12, 13 weeks in, so from that standpoint, it is encouraging, but I want to win races – that is the main goal for me. It is weird. We’ve had the results, but I feel like we have been so bad. I don’t even feel like we are close to our potential,” Chase Briscoe said ahead of Coke 600.
Briscoe also highlighted conversations with his crew chief James Small, revealing that they believe the team has yet to fully unlock its capabilities together. He admitted that he is still adjusting to the JGR car and views progress as a matter of
“putting all of the pieces together.”
Given his current performance, Briscoe rated himself somewhere between a B- and a C+, hopeful that his efforts will elevate his results to an A-grade in the near future.
Adapting to Elevated Expectations at Joe Gibbs Racing
Reflecting on the first segment of the season, Briscoe acknowledged that the transition to JGR involved adapting to a substantially different level of expectation. He described the pressure at Joe Gibbs Racing as significantly higher compared to his previous team.
“I was telling my dad – after the Bristol race, all four JGR cars were in the top-eight, and if we would have had all of the cars at SHR (Stewart-Haas Racing) in the top-10, we would have been going nuts – it would have been the best day ever, at least towards the end of SHR, where at JGR, at the comp meeting, you would have thought we all four ran 30th or worse. It is so different,” Briscoe said.
This heightened standard means that drivers and teams at JGR are expected to compete for wins on a weekly basis. Briscoe explained that this shift has affected the mental side of his approach, requiring an adjustment in mindset.
Overall, his current situation feels very different from where he was over the past two years, as he continues to recalibrate his efforts to meet JGR’s ambitious goals.
Looking Ahead to Unlocking Full Potential
Chase Briscoe’s 2025 season progress with Joe Gibbs Racing reflects a driver in transition, balancing solid race results while striving for greater success. Despite the challenges, he remains motivated by the potential of his new team and his own growth.
Briscoe’s acknowledgment of the gap between current achievements and the team’s full potential suggests a period of development is still underway. As he and his crew chief work to align their approaches, fans and analysts alike will watch closely to see how quickly the #19 car can add victories to its resume this year.
With his self-assigned grade expecting improvement and his focus firmly on winning, the remainder of the 2025 season will likely be critical in defining Briscoe’s trajectory at Joe Gibbs Racing and his place among the sport’s competitive frontrunners.
