Why Chase Briscoe would be the perfect replacement for Martin Truex Jr. at Joe Gibbs Racing
NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe.
Let the NASCAR free agency rumor mill begin.
With Martin Truex Jr. expected to announce his retirement on Friday afternoon, many fans are already speculating about who could replace Truex in the No. 19 car at Joe Gibbs Racing. According to Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass, JGR has its eye on one driver in particular.
Chase Briscoe is currently the leading candidate to land the No. 19 car. Briscoe currently drives the No. 14 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, but with Stewart-Haas shutting down at the end of 2024, he'll need to find a ride to remain in the Cup Series.
JGR would be the perfect team for Briscoe to land with, as Stewart-Haas started drastically falling off the pace when Briscoe joined their Cup Series roster in 2021. With slow cars and no solutions in sight, it makes perfect sense for Briscoe, who's only 29 years old, to begin a new chapter in his Cup Series career with a top-three team in the Cup Series.
Despite an ailing team and cars clearly lacking their competitors' speed, Briscoe dragged his No. 14 car to a win at Phoenix in 2022. Later that same year, he took SHR on a Cinderella playoff run, which came up just a few laps short of an appearance in NASCAR's Championship Race, which would've ironically been held at Phoenix.
The only driver on Stewart-Haas' 2024 Cup Series roster to win at the Cup level, Briscoe will easily be the most sought-after driver — or likely already is — after the 2024 season ends. With sponsorship from Mahindra Tractors behind him, he seems to bring talent and funding, a must-have to grab a top ride at any level of professional racing.
Signing with Joe Gibbs Racing would give Briscoe an opportunity he's not had since his 2020 Xfinity Series campaign — a chance to drive for a team that is clearly championship caliber. While Stewart-Haas' Cup Series program has faltered in recent years, its Xfinity Series program has flourished, culminating in the 2023 Xfinity Series championship with Cole Custer. While Briscoe came short of the title in 2020, he won nine of the series' 33 races, including a one-on-one duel at Darlington vs. Kyle Busch.
Briscoe has floated around the NASCAR Cup Series playoff cutline for much of the 2024 season, and the remaining 20 races on the Cup Series schedule should be seen by Briscoe as a live audition for Joe Gibbs.
If JGR does have the fortune to sign Briscoe, they'll have successfully replaced one Cup Series champion with a young talent who has the chance of winning a championship trophy himself.
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