Chase Briscoe reveals major change since joining Joe Gibbs Racing

For Chase Briscoe, there are many new things in his life as he moves over to Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 19 Toyota Camry. However, one of the biggest changes that NASCAR fans may have noticed already is Briscoe’s health.

Under Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing, diet and exercise weren’t really top priorities. Someone like Chase Briscoe is taller than your average driver and has been a bit bigger than most during his career.

Now that Briscoe has made the move to JGR, his diet has changed, too. The Indiana boy can’t eat like he’s at his mom’s house all the time anymore. He’s putting away the fruits and veggies as well.

Briscoe spoke to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports about the change and how it came about.

“I wouldn’t say Toyota as much as JGR,” Briscoe said. “I think it’s like there for Toyota, too, I know they have a nutritionist and all that. But it’s honestly been James has been trying to get me way down. They wanted me down 15 pounds before the season started. I’m down almost 10. So, I was doing really, really good, truthfully up until a week and a half ago. So, I’ve been doing way better.”

That kind of attention to detail was not there at Stewart-Haas. As Briscoe put it to Pockrass:

“SHR I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted,” he said with a laugh.

Chase Briscoe at Joe Gibbs Racing is a big deal. This is an organization that can tap into Briscoe’s potential and let his talents shine. Getting him into better shape is just part of the equation.

Chase Briscoe following the trends in NASCAR

You can say it started with Mark Martin, and that is likely true, but fitness and nutrition are still somewhat of a rarity in NASCAR. These drivers are athletes and it isn’t hard to see the benefits of being fitter, healthier, and more rounded as an athlete.

Racing 500 miles in a day or 500 laps around Martinsville is taxing. That is an endurance event. Hearing that JGR wants Chase Briscoe to lose weight isn’t surprising. Toyota has a whole program and resources developed for drivers to work out and train. And they should use it.

The fact that Stewart-Haas drivers weren’t subjected to these extracurriculars is shocking. But not surprising. When you look at how that organization was run, especially in the last three to five years, it is night and day compared to how say, Chevy, treats their top drivers.

Josh Wise and his Wise Optimization program for Chevrolet is a huge part of the manufacturer’s success lately. The program has a driver like Ross Chastain running a 5:30 mile at the age of 31. That’s not Olympic-level running, but it is substantially better than most.

As teams figure out that fit drivers are better drivers, every team is going to have a program. Maybe the problems at SHR were internal, or maybe Ford didn’t provide as much support as they should – either way, Chase Briscoe is in a new environment and it appears to already be paying off.