It's a whole new era at Stewart-Haas Racing and the team will be looking for someone new to be its top driver after Kevin Harvick said farewell to a stellar career after the 2023 season.
The team now has only one victory among its four-driver line-up, which includes two new faces in Noah Gragson and Josh Berry. That one Cup win belongs to Chase Briscoe, the driver of the No. 14 Ford Mustang, who is entering his fourth season in the Cup Series. Briscoe understands that he has to step up and become the leader at the team like Harvick was.
Briscoe spoke about it this week as a Sirius XM NASCAR Radio guest.
?? @ChaseBriscoe_14 has big expectations heading into 2024 with @StewartHaasRcng ??
? "I wanna be the new Kevin Harvick at Stewart-Haas. I wanna be the guy that's running up front week in week out." #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/bwrETAIXsd
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) December 18, 2023
"I'm going to be the senior guy there now and that's crazy to think only being three years in," Briscoe said. "But I'm going to be the elder statesman there, so it'll be interesting for sure. Something I'm excited for, but at the same time, I think that leadership role comes from running up front week-in and week-out. Kevin was the leader of that place because he ran the best on the most consistent basis."
Briscoe will need to pick up his finishing ability, but he has shown skill at quite a few racetracks, which is what SHR needs, as Harvick was the only driver for the team who made the playoffs in 2023. He's ready to step into the Harvick role, or at least that's what he told Sirius.
"For me, that's the biggest thing is I wanna be the new Kevin Harvick at Stewart-Haas. I wanna be the guy that's running up front week-in and week-out and when people think about Stewart-Haas, they think of the 14 car," Briscoe said. "That's my whole goal going into this season and if we do that, then that leadership role just naturally gets placed upon you. But I think it's hard to just say going into the season that you're going to be the leader now at the place just because you've been there the longest. I think it comes from performance and that's where we need to back that up."
With such a young driver line-up, someone has to step up and be the team's leader. Briscoe looks like he is ready and willing to do it, which might be the best sign of leadership qualities of all.
