LAS VEGAS – Chase Briscoe is set to be one of the drivers starring in the upcoming second season of Full Speed on Netflix. Premiering in May, the show follows a handful of drivers on their journey through the 2024 playoffs.
Perhaps no driver, even the champion Joey Logano, had a story as intriguing as Chase Briscoe’s last fall. Briscoe only secured his spot in the postseason with a win at the prestigious Southern 500 on Labor Day Weekend, which was already an emotional moment for Stewart-Haas racing in its final season.
In addition to masking the playoffs, Briscoe’s wife Marissa was nearing the end of her pregnancy with a pair of twins, the family’s third and fourth children. The Briscoes welcomed a son and daughter on October 8, right in between the Round of 12 races at Talladega and the Charlotte Roval. In addition to Briscoe’s life at the track, the show follows his family through the process of welcoming twins as he prepares to race in some of the most important races of his career.
Briscoe sat down with The Sporting Tribune for an interview ahead of a promotional appearance with Netflix at WWE Monday Night Raw. The conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
What were your initial thoughts and reaction when you were first approached about appearing on Full Speed? Were you all in or reluctant, given the timing of filming during the playoffs and everything that was going on at home?
Chase Briscoe: When we won the Southern 500, we literally won the final race of the regular season, right? The playoffs were starting the following Sunday, and Netflix was something that I didn't even think I was going to be a part of because it's only the playoff guys. When we won that race, literally victory lane, they were micing me up. And I was like, “What's this for?” Like, “Oh, this is for Netflix.” I told my wife, “I guess we're going to be on Netflix.”
So you didn’t really have a choice?
CB: I still had a choice. I wanted to do it. I thought it was super cool watching season one, and when you're not a part of something like that, man, you wish you were. So, yeah, I was all in. My wife and I were both like, ”Anything you guys need, feel free.”
They literally came to the delivery room four or five hours after we delivered the twins. They were a big part of it. That was something my wife and I talked about too, it would have been hard for us to film all of this stuff, and that's something that will live forever, right? We can always go back and watch and relive those moments. So yeah, we were all in from day one.
I mentioned what was going on at home because, as you alluded to, you and your family welcomed twins in the heat of the playoffs. How did you handle the pressure of balancing your responsibilities at home with the pressure of competing?
CB: As crazy as it sounds, I thought it honestly was the best thing for me. It really let me kind of separate the two. When I was at work, I was more focused on work. Obviously, I was still trying to make sure my wife was okay, but normally I'm kind of 50% in on one and 50% in on the other, and I'm not really giving either 100%.
When the playoffs started, like I had to be all in on the playoffs. When I would go to the shop, when I was at the racetrack, I was 100% dialed in. Then when I'd be at home, I would honestly kind of tune all the racing stuff away. It was a nice kind of balance where I could come home, I didn't even worry about the playoffs. Didn't worry about the results. Whatever it was going to be was going to be. I would just focus on my wife and my family, and when I would go to work that weekend or go to the racetrack.
My wife knew, like, she wasn’t going to call me unless she was literally going into labor. It was a great way for me to kind of balance the two out. I felt like if I didn't have the playoffs, I would have been stressing out so much about the babies and her and when she's going to go into labor and vice versa. If my wife wasn't pregnant at the time, the playoffs would have probably been a little more pressure-packed.
What was it like being apart of the filming process and did that change how you and your team approached race week at all?
CB: It didn't really change anything for our team. I was driving for a team that was shutting down at the end of the year, so it wasn't like there were any secrets to hide at that point.
I've been a part of a couple national commercials and stuff, and seeing the 10-to-12-plus hours that go into filming a 30-second spot. I kind of had an idea of what we were getting into, but it was nuts just how much Netflix films, and how much, honestly, gets cut. You don't realize how much stuff they're filming just to try to get into five-episode windows. That was pretty eye-opening to me.
I couldn't imagine trying to edit all the stuff down. There's a lot of stuff that I thought was for sure going to be in, whether it was myself or something that I knew another driver had went and done. Then you watch the show and it’s not even, just because they have to pack so much into five episodes. It was definitely crazy, just being a part of that process behind the scenes after watching season one.
One thing a lot of people said about the F1 Netflix show (Drive to Survive) was that it was great TV but maybe a bit overly dramatic and not completely authentic in terms of what happened in real life. How authentic do you think Full Speed is compared to what you experienced in the playoffs last season?
CB: I feel like the F1 one is more focused on the lifestyle and not as much the on-track product, where I feel like the NASCAR one is more about the on-track product. You also get the characters and the lifestyle a little bit, but it's definitely more racing-focused.
I thought it depicted the playoffs, super, super well and everything that goes into it. But it also gives you that nice balance of seeing what some of your favorite drivers are like away from the racetrack and with their families because that's something that you just don't get to see a peek into a lot of the time
This is your first season with Joe Gibbs Racing after your stint with the Stewart-Haas Racing. How’s that adjustment been going and what’s been the biggest difference so far?
CB: It's definitely been an adjustment. It's been way different than what I anticipated. I would say that I thought we raced at this extremely high level at Stewart-Haas, but now going to Joe Gibbs Racing is crazy because of just how serious and cutthroat it is. Last race we ran, our company finished second, third, fourth and eighth and you would have thought we finished 30th, talking at the competition meeting about how bad we thought our cars were. The caliber of how that intensified everything has been different for me.
At Stewart-Haas, if we had four cars in the top ten, that was a great day. That part of it is just different, trying to acclimate yourself to the intensity on the competition side. But it’s been really, really good. It's been a great fit. So far, the cars are obviously really, really fast, which, as a race car driver, is nice. I feel like I'm still getting acclimated and getting comfortable. I feel like it's been a little bit easier of a transition than I thought in some ways, but also way more difficult than in other ways.
You have three top 10s in your last four races. Do you feel that first win of the season coming? Which tracks do you especially have circled as places where it could happen?
CB: With our cars, I feel like we're kind of capable any track we go to, truthfully, which is nice. I think it’s been encouraging for me because I don't feel like, as a race team, we don’t feel like we're 100% at all right now. I know, for me, I don't feel like that. I would think even my crew chief and team would agree that we just don't feel quite like we're hitting on all cylinders yet but we're still able to run in the top five pretty consistently and in the top 10 a lot.
Once we get to 100%, I feel like there's no reason why we can't be competing for wins pretty consistently. I would say Texas coming up is one that I feel good about. Charlotte. There's really not a single track at Joe Gibbs Racing where I feel like I can't go there and win, just because the cars are so good.
The playoff format has obviously been the subject of plenty of discourse recently. What are your thoughts on it and what is your preferred method of crowning a champion?
CB: I don't know, the playoff deal is hard. I've been on multiple sides of it. I've been where I'm kind of the underdog, and I get past the point where people think we would go. I've also been on the other side, where you're the dominant car all year long and then you end up not doing anything in the playoffs.
I think if I could change anything, it would probably be the final race. I'm torn. I like the Game 7 moment where it's all on the line and you have to perform in that one race, but there are so many variables that go into just one race. Sometimes I wish the championship round was like the rest of the playoffs, where it's three races each. I don't know. It obviously creates excitement and entertainment and at the end of the day, we’re an entertainment-based industry. I'm torn because I like it both ways, but if I could change anything it would be that.
What are your thoughts on the location of the championship race? Do you prefer it at Homestead, Phoenix or would you like to see it go to another track like right here in Las Vegas?
CB: I definitely think that Vegas would be a good place to do it. You have to be in certain areas geographically. I would say for me, Homestead is one of my favorite racetracks, so I would obviously love to do it there.
Phoenix is another place where I feel like the racing might not be as good, but it's not as much of a niche track, where like at Homestead, you kind of get the same winners over and over and over again. So I don't know, I'm torn. I think that in a perfect world, you would move it around year-to-year, just so that not one team or one driver kind of has an inherent advantage. Still, you’re hand-tied with the tracks you can even take it to in the first place.
You’re here in Las Vegas to attend Monday Night Raw with Netflix and promote Full Speed season two. Do you have a favorite wrestler? Which driver could you actually see throwing down in a match?
CB: I don't have a favorite wrestler, but I will say there are a couple of drivers I would not want to get in the ring with. I always say that (Ricky) Stenhouse would be the last guy I'd want to fight. I mean, we kind of saw that at North Wilkesboro. Ricky is scrappy. He's just fast. He does CrossFit every single day. Like, he would be one guy I do not want to mess with. I would say if I had to get in the ring, Ricky would be one guy I wouldn’t want to be in the ring with.
How important was it for you to properly recharge during an off-week like this past week? Especially considering the schedule from here on out.
CB: A lot of sports just don't have the schedule that we have in the first place, right? But then for us to have just one off week, and now we go 28 weeks straight, it's definitely going to be a grind.
For me, the off week was great, just being able to be at home with literally no responsibilities. I could go do anything. I could spend time with all three kids and my family came in town for Easter. All that was nice, just to kind of recharge my batteries.
Now we're back to it. It was definitely a nice break, would love to have another week off but with 28 straight weeks we’ve got a long way to go.
What's the biggest area of focus for the 19 team moving forward?
CB: I think the biggest area of focus is, honestly, just me getting more comfortable. I feel like right now, I'm the one thing that needs to be better. The 19 team has been really successful for a long time. They haven't won a race in a couple of years, but they've been leading a ton of laps and running up front. I just feel like I'm at 90% right now still, as far as getting totally acclimated and comfortable in the new car. I feel like I'm a couple of weeks away still, so that'd be the one thing, I think, is for me to continue getting more and more comfortable in the car.
What are Chase Briscoe’s expectations for the rest of the 2025 season?
CB: We need to win a race. We need to win multiple races, but I definitely think that's possible. Making the playoffs. Just being a little more consistent. We've been kind of hit or miss, especially the first part of the season.
Like you said earlier, three out of last four weeks we've been in the top 10. We just need to be consistent and do a lot more of that. When you're running up front, typically, your opportunities to win get better and better, right? Just because you're up there a lot. So that, to me, is the biggest focus going into the rest of the season.