NASCAR Ford drivers Chase Briscoe and Harrison Burton were surprise additions to the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs, each earning their way into a berth in the 2024 title quest by winning a race. While they are considered underdogs, neither driver is letting it discourage them.
Speaking with NASCAR.com during the Playoffs media day, Briscoe and Burton explained their plans to go all the way in 2024. Briscoe is the most recent winner in the Cup Series, taking the No. 14 NASCAR Ford Mustang Dark Horse to Victory Lane at Darlington. Briscoe hasn’t been the most successful driver on track this year, but he’s holding his head high and embracing the title of “underdog.”
“I love being the underdog. I feel like I’ve been the underdog my whole career, and I love feeling like my back is up against the wall,” Briscoe said. “So yeah, I love when people doubt us, don’t think we can do it. It definitely fires me up, motivates me. The last time we were in the playoffs, everybody said we’d be the first team out, and we were four laps away from making the final four. So I know what our team’s capable of, I know what I’m capable of. When everything is executed perfectly, there’s no reason why we can’t be the ones holding up the trophy at the end.”
Meanwhile, Burton says that he’s thrilled to even be a part of the 2024 Playoffs thanks to his standout victory in the No. 12 Mustang at Daytona just a few weeks back. Burton won’t return to the No. 21 NASCAR Ford team next year and doesn’t have a ride lined up yet, but says that he’s not letting that cloud his vision when it comes to the 2024 championship.
“If I was not a part of this team, I would say the same thing, right?” said Burton. “I mean, you can’t help but look at where we were in points, look at how our season had gone, look at the fact that I was on my way out of my job… We have a great opportunity to kind of be born again, and it’s like, ‘OK, whole new season right here. Let’s go.'”
He added, “That is a rare opportunity in sports – a rare opportunity in life, really – to get to do that. So I’m going to make the most of that. I know my race team is making the most of it.”
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