After winning the 2019 rookie-of-the-year title in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Chase Briscoe will race for an Xfinity Series championship in 2020 as he returns to Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR).  

Briscoe is a two-time winner in the Xfinity Series, with both of his victories coming in SHR-prepared Ford Mustangs. The 25-year-old from Mitchell, Indiana, finished fifth in the championship standings in 2019, earning a berth in the NASCAR Playoffs with a win, two poles and 13 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes in his first full season of Xfinity Series competition.

“This is the first time I’ll be able to run back-to-back, full seasons with the same team, and I couldn’t be happier to do it with Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Briscoe, a development driver with Ford Performance. “Their faith in me means a lot, and I want to reward them and Ford with more wins and a run for the championship.”

“We are thrilled to continue Chase’s development program with a second full season running the Xfinity Series for Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “Chase has proven himself well so far and we’re looking forward to continuing his progression as he competes for an Xfinity Series championship for SHR and Ford.”

While it seems like the 2019 season just ended, the start of NASCAR racing in 2020 is just weeks away.

As fans anticipate the new season, here are a handful of stories to keep in the back of your mind that will be worth watching as the year unfolds.

Cup Rookie of the Year Battle
There’s a larger crowd than usual battling for this honor in 2020.

• Christopher Bell in the 95 car (as a temporary stopover until a Gibbs car is vacant)
• Cole Custer in Stewart-Haas Racing’s 41 car
• Tyler Reddick replacing Daniel Hemric in the 8 car for RCR.

Rounding out the ROTY contenders (battling for 4^th, in all honesty, with inferior equipment) are:

• Quin Houff (#00 car — StarCom)
• Brennan Poole (#15 car — Premium)
• John Hunter Nemechek (#38 car — Front Row)

So how will this battle finish up? The way I see it, Custer has the best equipment out the gate; Reddick has a chance at ROTY if he can avoid the wrecks Hemric had; Bell has the most talent of the bunch and ability to get the win that seemed close but eluded Matt DiBenedetto in the 95 in 2019. 

Thoughts as NASCAR leaves Phoenix and heads to Homestead for the 2019 season finale:

— It’s imperative that NASCAR does something with the Cup aero package for shorter tracks before the 2020 season, at least in regard to shorter tracks. They simply can’t have the title race decided by 10 seconds. This was one of the worst races of the season, and we can’t have a repeat of that in 2020 when a championship is being decided at Phoenix. 

— There’s a lot of talk about young guns in NASCAR, and there is definitely lots of young talent in the ranks in all three major series. But look at the top ranks in Cup, and what do we see?: An average age of 38.5 among the final four at Homestead. The lesson: For now, experience rules. Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, William Byron and others will get their shot at the title soon enough. But they’re going to have to get past the veterans to do so, as long as they’re around.

Things were heating up this weekend in Martinsville, both on the track and on pit road afterward. Here are my takeaways on what we learned this week in terms of the championship fight, and what that Logano-Hamlin fight was really all about.

Truex is top dog at Gibbs, Busch in the dumps

There is no more debate to be had. After his thoroughly dominating run to the checkered flag at Martinsville, Martin Truex Jr. and the 19 team are clearly the best chance that Joe Gibbs Racing has to win the Cup title this year.

Even if Truex, Hamlin and Kyle Busch all make it to the Homestead 4 (which at this point is very possible), former team leader Kyle Busch probably has the lowest chance at winning the title of the three. And honestly, the way things are going, he might not even be in the Final Four.

He’s been inching backward toward being a mid-pack car for what seems like a very long time now, he can’t figure out how to drive with this aero package as well as his teammates, and quite frankly doesn’t seem happy most of the time.

BROOKLYN, Mich. — A hometrack race just means more.

And for Brad Keselowski and Erik Jones, who both cut their teeth at local Michigan tracks including Waterford Hills, that home track in the Cup series is Michigan International Speedway.

Neither has won a Cup race at MIS (in fact, no Michigan-born driver has won a Cup race at MIS), but this might be the weekend that changes. Both are very fast so far this weekend. 

Keselowski’s speed came through in qualifying Friday, when he went out last in qualifying and beat everyone with a speed of 190.471 MPH. He previously won the pole at MIS in August 2017.

 “I think the track was in really good shape,. I don't know if there was anything that really favored us, mostly it was just the team doing a great job with the preparation and executing a flawless lap driving the car. Most of the credit goes to my team for sure.”

BROOKLYN, Mich. — I’ll start with a proclamation: The Truck Series is the best and most competitive of the three top-tier series in NASCAR, so when Saturday’s race at MIS kicked off, I had high expectations.

In the end, as per usual, I was not disappointed.

With the exception of the opening 20-lap segment, which was dominated by Ross Chastain before he had some bad luck and incurred damage on pit road, the race was one of the best all season.

Ben Rhodes, in a smooth-looking Havoline throwback paint scheme, threatened to take the win and enter the playoffs. Brett Moffitt was in the hunt for yet another win. Young Tyler Ankrum was on the front row for several restarts, and even the KBM trucks made appearances up front as they battled in their final attempt to make the playoffs.

It was a dream finish, Cinderella-like you could say, for Justin Haley at Daytona on Sunday, when he took home the victory In the brand-new, underfunded Spire Motorsports #77 car, after staying out on track following a caution, and being scored the leader when the race was called due to inclement weather.

Sunday’s race was declared official with 33 laps remaining and with Haley sitting in the No. 1 position. 

It’s not a stretch to call this the biggest upset in Cup series history, as Sunday was only the third MENCS career start for Haley, and he hadn’t sniffed a strong finish in those three starts prior to his turn of good luck.

Haley’s talent is not in doubt, as he has shown at the Xfinity level what he is capable of doing, nearly winning on Saturday in that series at Daytona as part of a Kaulig Racing 1-2 finish.

The day was strong overall for Chevy, who finished 1-2-3-4 with Haley, William Byron, Jimmie Johnson and Ty Dillon. Kurt Busch was also a contender for the win, giving up the lead by pitting just before the race was red-flagged to hand the victory over to Haley.

Below is the full transcript of the press conference featuring Haley, crew chief Peter Sospenzo and Spire team owner T.J. Puchyr:

With so much focus on the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas and Penske Fords so far this year, Sunday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway was refreshing for fans to see. 

New faces up front, struggles from the usual leaders, and some hope that maybe the battle for the Cup will not be a runaway for Joe Gibbs Racing and the killer duo of Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.

Alex Bowman, it seems has different thoughts about this season. So does Hendrick Motorsports. And Chevy isn’t dead yet.

A few thoughts on the day’s action:

* A big congratulations to Alex Bowman. He has been constantly questioned by many who follow the sport since taking over the 88 car from Dale Earnhardt Jr. But he is finally living up to his potential in this 2019 season and has emerged as a team leader in terms of performance. After a long string of 2^ndplace finishes, he finally climbed up that one final spot to the summit, and it was not easy. Passing Kyle Larson back after being passed with a few laps remaining was a tough chore, but Bowman came through.
 

BROOKLYN, Mich.— It was a dreary day Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, and the fans who showed up held out hope of getting the race in, but it was not to be. Despite the track’s best efforts not to lose the track, and drivers Bubba Wallace and Corey Lajoie cheering up the fans with some football toss fun, Mother Nature would not cooperate and let us get a race in.

So here we are, on a Monday, awaiting a 5 p.m. start in Brooklyn, the start time delayed both by ongoing weather on Monday and FS1’s commitment to air Women’s World Cup matches.

Leading the field to green this afternoon/early evening will be Joey Logano of Team Penske, who led a strong qualifying effort by the Ford camp.

Logano said he anticipates teams will use different approaches throughout the race, but he’s happy to have the first pit stall.

“I am sure strategy will change things up. There will be two-tires, four-tires, no-tires and everything will get mixed up at some point, but I think being in that first pit stall is going to lessen that risk of getting back there and getting stuck. If you can kind of keep yourself up there I think it will be important for tomorrow's race,” he said.  

When Ryan Blaney makes his debut in the iconic No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion in the 2015 Daytona 500 and the events leading up to the Great American Race, he will be mindful of his rookie status, but will be looking for ways to get to and stay near the front of the pack.

“I’d like to say being a rookie doesn’t change your thought process but it definitely does,” said the 21-year-old Blaney. “You go through it with every new series you go into. You have to give respect to get it. That’s what I’ve always done.