The biggest edge a driver used to have was sitting right next to him in the garage. Chase Briscoe says that era is dead. The data now lets any driver see how a rival handles a track, even if they drive for a different team. This shift changes how drivers prepare for races like the one coming up at Martinsville Speedway. Briscoe says the old days of leaning on a teammate for setup secrets are gone for good.
Per Autoweek, Briscoe explained that modern technology allows him to study the throttle and steering of rivals like Denny Hamlin without needing a shared garage. He noted that he can watch how Hamlin drives a track and gain a clear picture of the car’s behavior. The driver admitted that guessing at pedal differences for non-teammates used to be a real struggle. Now, the information is out there for anyone to find if they know where to look.
The New Data Game
Competition meetings still help drivers learn what their specific car needs at tricky tracks. Briscoe said these sessions let him understand what his Toyota needs where Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Ty Gibbs run well. “I think that’s the biggest advantage,” Briscoe said about teammates, according to Autoweek. He knows the old way of molding a car based on a teammate’s success has limits. He noted that drivers naturally drive a little bit different than their teammates anyway. “you try to mold everything based off them and their success, and you know naturally you do drive a little bit different than them.” This mismatch makes copying a teammate less useful than it once was.
The simulator has replaced on-track testing, but it has its own flaws. Drivers run hundreds of laps to find a rhythm before a race weekend starts. To prepare for Martinsville, Briscoe completed nearly 400 simulator laps on Wednesday. He found it hard to get the feel he needed for the real track. “No matter how good it is, it still is never real life,” Briscoe said. The timing of things feels a bit off in the machine compared to the actual race car.
A Different Driving Style
Briscoe knows he must change how he drives the short tracks to win. He feels he is good on short runs but struggles on long ones. “How I drive the race track is going to be drastically different this weekend versus how I’ve driven it in the past,” Briscoe explained. He told his team that the real life race will not be as hard to find a feel as the simulator made it. The secret involves decelerating all actions and allowing the vehicle to handle the effort. He wants to stop trying to force the car to do things it does not want to do.
This new approach is the most different one he has ever tried for a track. The pressure is high with only two races left in the 2026 season. Briscoe sits 79 points behind Kyle Larson after a bad crash at Talladega. He needs a huge performance at Martinsville just to stay in the hunt for the title. Although the odds favor his opponents, he has proven capable of winning several races consecutively.
Old Rules vs New Reality
Joey Logano thinks the current playoff system lacks the drama fans want to see. He thinks the previous format generated more frantic racing situations. “I’ve been very outspoken about the playoff system that I absolutely loved it. I thought it was cool. I thought there was do or die moments and all that,” Logano said, according to Heavy.com. He admits Larson deserves his big lead in the standings. “So does he deserve to have that big of a lead? Absolutely. He’s had an amazing run,” Logano said.
The new Chase rewards drivers for results across ten races instead of forcing elimination rounds. Larson leads Denny Hamlin by approximately 70 points with just two races remaining. The driver accumulating the highest points total after the final Homestead-Miami Speedway race claims the title. Race wins are worth 55 points, giving drivers more chances to gain ground. Logano says Larson’s goal now is just to not screw up with the track schedule left.