DARLINGTON, S.C. – Ford Performance development driver Chase Briscoe will return to the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards next Friday night at Lucas Oil Raceway, CATCHFENCE.com has confirmed.
Briscoe, a native of Mitchell, Ind. will drive a second-car for Chad Bryant Racing in the Shore Lunch 200 on Sept. 7 – making his return to the series since winning the championship in 2016 for Cunningham Motorsports.
Nutri Chomps will support the effort and his Ford Fusion will look identical to his Xfinity paint scheme utilized earlier in the year at Texas Motor Speedway. Nutri Chomps is a proprietary brand of Scott 100, 100% rawhide free, vitamin and mineral enriched dog chew.
“I’m really excited about running the ARCA race,” said Briscoe. “If it wasn’t for ARCA I wouldn’t have had a platform that got me to where I am now. Plus, I’m excited to get back to Lucas Oil, that’s where I made my first ever ARCA start so it’s special to get to go back there, plus growing up it was one of the only pavement tracks I even remember going to.
“It’s going to be fun getting to work with Chad and all the guys again as well as having Nutri Chomps on the car. Hopefully, we can come back and have a result like we did last time we ran in the series.”
Briscoe’s championship crew chief Chad Bryant purchased the assets of Cunningham Motorsports during the offseason and rebranded the team as Chad Bryant Racing. The team fields one-full time entry for Joe Graf Jr., while also running the team’s second car, the No. 22 on occasion.
The team won last weekend at Berlin (Mich.) Raceway in Marne.
It will be a busy weekend for Briscoe, who won earlier this year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Eldora Speedway in a one-race deal with ThorSport Racing.
In addition to ARCA, Briscoe will also compete in USAC activity on Wednesday and Thursday night at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) followed by his ninth race of the season in the No. 60 Ford Mustang for Roush Fenway Racing in next Saturday afternoon’s Lilly Diabetes 250 at IMS.
Briscoe says he doesn’t mind being busy.
“It’s gonna be a super busy but a really fun weekend,” Briscoe added. “Starting Wednesday and Thursday in the midget for the USAC BC39, then Friday I will practice the Xfinity car and hustle over to Lucas Oil to qualify the ARCA car and race it, then Saturday race the Xfinity car.
“Getting to run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is such a humbling experience and a dream come true for me.”
For Briscoe, Indianapolis is an opportunity for him to showcase his potential on various levels in front of his hometown crowd. With opportunity, however, also comes pressure and that is something Briscoe is ready to face head-on.
“It’s a huge deal not only because of the fact that it’s a hometown for me but also for my sponsors, explained Briscoe. “Scott Pet (Big Tine and Nutri Chomps) is based in Rockville, Indiana and having around 300 employees come to the races, so it’s a huge deal.
“On top of that I’m still trying to finalize my plans for next year so anytime you run good that helps that.”
The 23-year-old Briscoe caught the attention of Ford after his dominate ARCA season in 2016 which included six poles, six wins, 14 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes in 20 events.
The manufacturer quickly signed him for the following season where he ran full-time for Brad Keselowski Racing winning his first career Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.
The Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker continued Briscoe’s path with a part-time schedule in the Xfinity Series with stints at Roush Fenway and Stewart-Haas Racing, while also competing part-time in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Series.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01
