By Joey Barnes, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The homecoming pleasantries started early for Chase Briscoe.
A native of Mitchell, Indiana, Briscoe, along with wife, Marissa, and son, Brooks, attended training camp for the Indianapolis Colts on Tuesday and received a small taste of what to expect from his favorite NFL team ahead of the 2023 season.
It was all part of a busy week for the driver of the No. 14 Highpoint.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series’ annual visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard. Briscoe also will make his Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) debut Thursday night at Eldora Speedway, racing alongside team owner Tony Stewart.
Briscoe made it last year to Colts’ training camp but only watched from afar. This time around, he shared memorable experiences with his family, which included a throwing session with his son. Toward the end of watching some intense sessions of the offense and defense squaring off, the family went down to the field and viewed the remainder of practice from the sideline.
“This is the first year having behind-the-scenes access and things like that,” Briscoe said. “It’s been cool to see it now from two totally different perspectives.
“I feel like you appreciate a lot more how big these guys are when you get down here on the field with them. You know, sitting up in the stands, you don’t really tell as much. They look big still, but until you’re down here ground level with them, you really can just picture how much they go through. Like on the offensive line, defensive line, I couldn’t imagine the hits them guys are taking sometimes. So, it’s really cool to see this perspective and just as a Colts fan see the behind-the-scenes stuff.”
Additionally, Briscoe, the 2021 Sunoco Rookie of the Year, received a Colts jersey with his name and car number from his favorite player on the current roster, Mo Alie-Cox.
“I always feel like Mo Alie has been one of our most underappreciated guys, truthfully,” Briscoe said. “I feel like anytime we need a touchdown and we’re in the red zone, he’s always that guy that we can go to, and he can just find a way to get open.”
While Briscoe, 28, shared his excitement for the upcoming NFL season, expressing optimism to “get back those Peyton Manning years,” he also has eyes forward on this weekend’s round on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn layout at IMS.
After scoring his maiden Cup victory and advancing into the Round of 8 last season, Briscoe had endured a challenging 2023 with only three top-five and five top 10 finishes. So, a victory on home soil would help provide something positive to savor.
It’s not out of the question, either.
In 2020, Briscoe delivered a sterling performance to score a NASCAR Xfinity Series win at the Brickyard – one of nine wins that season – in a Fourth of July weekend to remember. In the Cup race that followed, he was battling for the win coming to the checkered flag but exceeded track limits and made contact – and spinning – race leader Denny Hamlin, resulting in a penalty and handing the victory to AJ Allmendinger.
“It would mean everything,” Briscoe said, of winning on Sunday. “I’ve been able to win at Indianapolis a couple years ago, but it was during COVID, so there was nobody there to experience that with me. That still burns me up to this day that I didn’t get to see any fans going crazy. I didn’t get to spend it with my family, my friends. It’s not really regret, but that’s the one thing I wish that I could change if I could change anything throughout my career. Right now, it’s just that I got to win at Indy with people there. So, it would mean everything.
“For me, I remember my rookie season running Indy, when I took the lead, I looked up in the stands and the crowd was going nuts. And just knowing that I was in the stands at one point, going crazy for Tony (Stewart), seeing the whole Hoosier crowd just going nuts for an Indiana guy. So, it would mean a lot to win, and it would definitely be the biggest win in my career. Hopefully, I can get it done on Sunday.”
Originally posted on indianapolismotorspeedway.com