Only two races remain in the NASCAR Cup Series season, and drivers are running out of time to chase down leader Kyle Larson. Chase Briscoe is well aware of this fact, and he is taking steps to give himself a fighting chance.
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He said that he has changed his approach to Martinsville Speedway, the site of Sunday afternoon's Chase race (2 p.m. ET on NBC).
"As a driver, it has been a place where I put a lot of work in, just from the JGR standpoint," Briscoe told media members earlier in the week. "Like even this week, like just changing my complete approach of how I try to drive that place.
"So yeah, I don't know. Hopefully, it'll pay off, and we'll be back to being competitive there, especially given the circumstances. Have to go there and try to win this weekend."
Martinsville Speedway is a track where Briscoe has run well for the most part during his Cup Series career. He has made 11 starts and finished inside the top 10 in six of them. He has added two top-fives.
Briscoe even put himself in position to win at the track in the 2022 playoffs. He stayed out to gain track position and led 25 laps. It appeared that he would win and put himself into the Championship 4, but Christopher Bell passed him with five laps remaining in the race using some fresher tires.
This tire disadvantage is something that Briscoe says has become a recurring theme throughout his career, and it's been a driving force in this move to change his approach.
"Short tracks have always been a thing where just how I drive it, it works great on these super short runs where tires don't really make a difference," Briscoe said. "But just in the long run, like I just don't do myself any favors at all.
"Just trying to just manage all that better, and just how I drive the racetrack is just going to be drastically different this weekend versus how I've driven it in the past."
Making a major change to his approach this far into his Cup career has not been an easy task. Briscoe said that this week's work in the simulator certainly challenged him as he tried to replicate other drivers' styles.
Driving as these other competitors do is not something that comes naturally to Briscoe, but he no other choice than to try. He knows that he must win at Martinsville Speedway to give himself a chance at erasing a 79-point deficit to leader Kyle Larson.
"I think the biggest thing is just trying to slow everything down, truthfully, and let the car do more of the work instead of trying to really hustle it and force it to do things it doesn't want to do," Briscoe said.
"Which I think that's why at Martinsville, I've been able to be fast when the tires are new and you're not slipping and sliding around all over the place.
"But typically, even in the 14 (Stewart-Haas Racing) car, that was always my struggle, was late into the run. So yeah, I don't know. Hopefully, it'll all pay off, and we can be in the mix."
