Chase Briscoe made it all the way to the Championship 4 in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, and he’s the No. 5 seed going into the opening race of NASCAR’s Chase Sunday at Darlington. 

The two-time defending Southern 500 winner, who won at Chicagoland on July 5, said Wednesday that his No. 19 team can undoubtedly challenge the likes of Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney for the Cup Series championship. 

“Last year up until the Chase we weren’t really that strong, dominant team,” Briscoe said. “Once the playoffs started, we were arguably the one of the best teams… When we did this last year, I felt good about it, but I didn’t really know what our true potential was, where now I feel like we are more than capable of going and winning the championship. 

“It definitely feels different from that standpoint. Like just internally, I would say myself, [crew chief James Small], the entire team, we feel way better about this year than we did last year just because we kind of know what to expect and we also know what the expectation is now for ourselves just because we kind of do it week in, week out.”

Chase Briscoe looks like a true title threat

The stat sheet may not look as pretty for Briscoe this year thanks to some early-season misfortune, but he has six top-six finishes over the last nine races.

There’s something to be said for the Chase starting at Darlington, where Briscoe only finished 12th in March. But as the winner of the last two Southern 500s, Briscoe is a favorite to win the crown jewel race for the third straight year. 

“Excited though to start at the Southern 500,” Briscoe said. “I don’t feel like there’s really a weakness out of any of the Chase races for us. To hopefully go to, Darlington, the goal is a 76-point day, win both stages, win the race and have the fastest lap. And we were able to do that last year, so there’s no reason why we can’t do it again. If we do that the 45 points to Denny, even if he runs second in all the stages, it’s cut in half already. That’s the goal and hopefully we can do that.”

Given that he drives a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, the sky is the limit for Briscoe in the Chase. He may have to go through his JGR teammates in Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell to win the title, but the No. 19 team should be considered a title contender until the results say otherwise. 

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.