TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — When he fired the engine on his race car before last year’s NASCAR finale, Chase Briscoe sat inside the cockpit and cried like a baby.

As an Indiana native aspiring to make it to the top levels of motorsports, he gravitated to Tony Stewart, a fellow Hoosier, three-time Cup champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer. It was a dream come true when Briscoe, couch-surfing in North Carolina while trying to crack his way into NASCAR, got a seat in 2020 at the team co-owned by Stewart.

But come the 2024 season finale, Stewart-Haas Racing was closing after the race and Briscoe’s full circle career moment would end.

“I remember sitting on the grid after we fired engines and just crying for my whole childhood. I idolized Tony, he was my hero,” Briscoe said.

Briscoe had already line

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