Joe Gibbs Racing has found the new driver of the No. 19 car for 2025 and beyond.
29 year-old Chase Briscoe will take over Martin Truex Jr.’s seat for 2025, with the 43 year-old Truex retiring.
The move makes Briscoe the first of four Stewart-Haas Racing drivers to announce their team for 2025 among SHR’s closing at the end of 2024.
Briscoe serves as a great choice for JGR to stick in the No. 19 Camry, as he boasts 11 wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and one win in the NASCAR Cup Series.
In 2022, Briscoe won at Phoenix and made the Round of 8 in the Cup Series Playoffs in just his second full-time season of competition. Briscoe has floated around the playoff cutline for much of 2024, currently sitting 18th, just 25 points outside of a potential playoff spot.
While Briscoe’s rookie season in 2021 wasn’t anything special, he proved that he clearly has the talent to compete for championships in 2022, being just a few laps away from a Cinderella run to NASCAR’s championship race. While 2023 was a rough season for the entirety of Stewart-Haas Racing, Briscoe has dragged his No. 14 team to several impressive runs in 2024, including a runner-up finish in Sunday’s race at New Hampshire.
Briscoe will inherit crew chief James Small, who has won eight races atop the pit box in four-and-a-half seasons with Truex.
While Briscoe likely won’t be a championship contender right off the bat in 2025, the No. 19 team should be in championship contention more often than not with Briscoe, who, has one of the highest ceilings among young drivers in the Cup Series.
We won’t truly know what the No. 19 team has in store for 2025 until the green flag flies in the Daytona 500, but it will certainly be fun to see Briscoe paired with a championship caliber organization.
