Winning Brickyard 400 'would mean everything' to Indiana native Chase Briscoe

Like basketball, racing is in everyone's blood in Indiana. 

Nobody knows that more than Mitchell, Ind., native Chase Briscoe, who was a fan of another Indiana native in Tony Stewart as a kid and eventually worked his way up to the NASCAR Cup Series just as Stewart did. 

And like Stewart, who won the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway twice, Briscoe would love nothing more than to win at his home track. 

What winning Brickyard 400 would mean to Chase Briscoe

"It would mean everything," Briscoe said Friday at IMS. "I would put this race over the Daytona 500 or any race. You could take every win I've ever had in my career away, and if I could just have one Brickyard 400 win, I'd be happy and content. This is the one race I want to win more than any other. 

"I put a ton of pressure on myself to come here and try to win. Every time you don't win, that's one less opportunity. You don't really have a ton. When you think about the big scheme of things, you only get to run here maybe 15 times in your career."

Briscoe has won at Indianapolis before, albeit on the road course in a 2020 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race. He nearly won the Cup race on the Indy road course the next year before a late spin and penalty derailed his day. 

A good finish on the oval has eluded him so far. He finished 24th in his first Brickyard 400 in 2024 before winning the pole and leading 34 laps last year, though he finished 18th. 

With how fast the No. 19 team has been of late — Briscoe won at Chicagoland on July 5 and has three top fives over the last four races — he could very well be in contention on Sunday. 

"Hopefully I can win this weekend, or at least at some point in my career," Briscoe said. "It would definitely be the highlight of my career, for sure."

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.