A new era begins in 2024 at Stewart-Haas Racing with Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick retiring from full-time Cup competition but two drivers are ready for the opportunity to lead the organization.
Chase Briscoe faces the most pressure heading into next season. He is the longest-tenured Cup driver at Stewart-Haas Racing with 108 starts and will be the only driver in the lineup with Cup playoff experience.
“(Briscoe) has got to step up to that (leadership role),” Almirola said. “He’s been there the longest and he’s got some credentials to back it up with all the success he’s had on the Xfinity side and he’s won a Cup race and gone deep into the playoffs last year.
“So he’s going to have to be that guy, and it’s going to create some more responsibility for him. I think he’s up for the challenge.”
Briscoe has achieved some success since moving up to Cup after a nine-win season in Xfinity. He won Rookie of the Year in 2021. He won the spring race at Phoenix last season and reached the Round of 8 of the playoffs.
This past season was inconsistent for Briscoe and SHR. He only posted eight top-10 finishes and four top fives as his average finish fell from 17.3 to 20.3.
Briscoe is ready to be a leader at SHR, but knows he must improve these numbers to accomplish this.
“I think we’ve had the credentials, I guess, to be that guy, but we haven’t done it consistently enough to be that guy,” Briscoe said. “So that’s going to be the biggest thing, I think, going forward for me is just to try to be that lead car week in and week out.
“It’s something that I’ve been able to do maybe eight to 10 weeks here, but I don’t do it 36 weeks a year. So I’ve just got to try to be better on that end.”
Ryan Preece enters his second full-time season with SHR after joining the organization as a reserve driver in 2022.
Briscoe and Preece will have one rookie teammate. Josh Berry will take over the No. 4. SHR has not announced the driver of the No. 10.
Regardless of who takes over the fourth car, Briscoe and Preece are moving forward with the intention of becoming the leaders in the building. They know this will be an important part of the process as SHR tries to get back to being consistently competitive.
“I’m already there,” Preece said about moving into a leadership role. “I’m there every day. I’m already doing this.”
Preece has the experience to embrace this role. He has 151 Cup starts, primarily with JTG Daugherty Racing and SHR. He worked his way through the ranks without the support of big-name sponsors.
When SHR announced Preece would replace Cole Custer in the No. 41 car, team co-owner Tony Stewart pointed to Preece’s work in developing SHR’s Next Gen program.
“I’m very involved in the process, I would say, with being vocal on what I like and don’t like,” Preece said. “The biggest thing that I enjoy about it is the willingness and the guys that I work with in our group. It’s always trying to make it better.”
Harvick has done his part to help his younger teammates prepare for a future without him in the building. He has had conversations with Briscoe and Preece and passed on his knowledge of team-building gained over 23 seasons and 826 starts at the top level of NASCAR.
“Kevin’s been around for a long time, and he’s somebody that I would say he tries to give you the tools and help explain to you what you need to look for within your team,” Preece said.
Almirola also has been actively involved. He has had numerous conversations with Briscoe to help with this move into a leadership role. Some have focused on making it through the Cup season. Others have focused on how Briscoe can make improvements that will pay off years down the road.
“I’ve not done a very good job of being consistent with how I prepare for a weekend,” Briscoe said. “In one week, I do it one way. Another week, I do it the other way.
“And just the structure that Aric’s been able to really have his entire life from on the track and off the track, something that I’ve struggled with being a relatively new father. Just trying to figure out how that balance is of keeping my family happy but also keeping my job happy.”
Briscoe and Preece have the pieces in place to become leaders at SHR. They have the experience across the national series. They also have the support of Almirola, Harvick, SHR and Ford Performance. The only thing left is to capitalize in 2024.
"(Losing Harvick is) going to be a transition that they need to go through but now we’ll have Chase Briscoe, who came through our driver development program,” Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance, told NBC Sports. “He’s now their longest-serving driver at Stewart-Haas. So a lot of weight is going to be put on his shoulders and the leadership there as well.”