Chase Briscoe Indianapolis Advance – No. 14 HighPoint.Com Ford Dark Horse Mustang

This year marks a return to the oval at Indy. While you don’t have any NASCAR Cup Series starts on the 2.5-mile oval, you do have two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts on the oval (2018 and 2019). So, what’s it like for an Indiana guy to race on the most renown track in Indiana, and on the most renown oval in all of motorsports?

“It’s super cool. Every racecar driver, or anybody in motorsports, wants to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and run laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but when you grow up in Indiana, it just means that much more to you. I’m just super excited to get back. I always say I don’t really care what we’re racing at Indy, whether it’s the road course, oval, dirt track, parking lot, whatever, I just want to race at Indy. It’s definitely more significant going to the oval, so it’ll be really special for me, personally, just to get to run a Brickyard 400. That was something I didn’t know that I was ever going to get the opportunity to do. With how it all kind of played out with this being the last year of Stewart-Haas, it’s really cool just to say I’ll get to run the Brickyard 400 in the 14.”

This year’s Brickyard 400 involves some interesting storylines for you – it’s your first Cup start on the oval, but you’re doing it in your last Indy start in the No. 14 while driving for your childhood hero, Tony Stewart. Is it a bittersweet moment – excitement mixed with a little sorrow?

“A little bit of both. I’m glad that I’ll at least get to say I got to drive one Brickyard 400 in the 14 for Tony. But it is bittersweet knowing that this’ll be the only time I’ll get to do it, and it’ll be the last time that Tony’s an owner at IMS. Yeah, there are mixed emotions. I’m excited and glad that I’m getting to do it with how everything played out, the fact that we’re going back to the oval this year and everything, it means a lot personally to get to do it in the 14. I’m glad that I’ll have that opportunity and at least get the chance to do it, but it is bittersweet. I was talking to Tony a couple of weeks ago and even brought up to him how a reporter had mentioned it to me and it didn’t even really hit me until I heard it. I think for Tony it was the same way. So it’s going to be bittersweet for both of us, but just glad we’ll have the opportunity.”

Explain what it’s like for an Indiana native to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Why is it such a big deal?

“Just when you look at the people who have won there, it’s all icons in motorsports and just people you kind of look up to, the A.J. Foyts, the Parnellis, the Unsers and Andrettis, it’s just the names of the people who have gotten to run at that racetrack, let alone win at that racetrack, it’s kind of a who’s who. Just to get to run on a racetrack that’s been around for more than 100 years and has the history and significance that it has in the motorsports community is always special. Then, when you grow up in Indiana, it’s just normal. I think you take for granted that you have IMS there in your backyard. It’s something you don’t realize how big of a thing it is until you finally go there and see it in person and realize what it means to motorsports. It’s certainly special to have probably the most iconic racetrack in the world as my home track.”

Racing at your home track is cool, but it also comes with a good bit of work outside of the racecar as family and friends want to see you before, during and after the race weekend. How do you juggle that aspect with what you need to do with your No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang?

“I enjoy it. It’s nice for me to go up to Indiana and get away from everything and see my friends and family that I don’t get to see a whole lot, and even a ton of race fans that I normally don’t get to see. So I try to go up a couple of days early and hang out and kind of get away from the craziness that is everyday life in Charlotte. I enjoy it. I try to always hang out with my grandparents, I try to go fishing with some of my best friends who I grew up with, and try to enjoy being home, something I don’t really get to do anymore. Definitely enjoy and look forward to it every single year. It’s a lot of work going up there just because I’m always busy, but it’s definitely a good busy.”

Indiana in July is hot and humid. How do you deal with the heat, and how far out before a race weekend begins do you start preparing yourself for the heat?

“For me, it’s normally Wednesday and Thursday that I try to get prepared for the weekend, and definitely it’s Saturday when you’re getting ready for Sunday. Growing up there, I’m kind of used to it. Indiana in July is definitely a different type of heat than you’re typically used to. Every time I think about Indiana in July, I think of Indiana Sprint Week and racing eight races in 10 days. I think you kind of get used to the heat when you’re from there, but it’s definitely a shock to a lot of people when they go there, especially in the middle of July and August. For me, it’s kind of normal.”

What’s your earliest childhood memory of Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

“The earliest childhood memory I have of IMS is, when I was 7 years old, literally right outside the tunnel between turns one and two, there’s a brick building that I think just got sold last year, but there was a guy who did embroidery on uniforms there. His name was Jim Bob and I remember going there and getting my first-ever uniform embroidered with my name on it. That was the first time I’d ever seen IMS. I watched it on TV, but I never put two and two together, and I just remember going there and seeing the grandstands and just driving around the racetrack and being in awe of how big of a racetrack it was. I’d always seen quarter-miles and three-eighth-mile dirt tracks growing up, but had never seen anything that was two-and-a-half miles. That’s my first memory of IMS. Literally, when you drive out of that tunnel, you’re looking at the building. So it’s kind of crazy that my first-ever race suit came from across the street at IMS.”

What’s your favorite Tony Stewart memory from Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

“For me, obviously the Brickyard wins stand out. Truthfully, I don’t remember the Indy 500, the double runs, I was a little bit younger. But I definitely remember Tony’s first Brickyard win, and then the one where he gave the interview on the front straightaway about the fans sticking with him. And I remember him doing the burnout over in turn two in front of his dad, Nelson, and all of his family and friends, so those are the ones that sort of stand out more than the rest.”