FORT WORTH, Texas – Though Chase Briscoe returned to the NASCAR Xfinity Series garage at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday wearing a Roush Fenway Racing driver’s suit, the buzz was about his new part-time deal with Stewart Haas Racing.

Briscoe, who kicked off his year in RFR’s No. 60 Ford Mustang at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February and will run 12 total races in Roush’s ‘all-star car’ this year, announced last week that he’ll compete in five additional Xfinity Series events with Stewart Haas – thanks in large part to his place in the Ford Performance family as the manufacturer’s lead development driver.

The Indiana native will debut in the No. 98 Ford Mustang – which is fielded in partnership between SHR and veteran team owners Fred Biagi and Bill DenBeste – at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on April 14.

Briscoe told the media the SHR tie-up and addition of more races to his schedule this year is something that Ford had been working hard on for him over the past several months.

“Ford has been trying to figure out how to get me in more races,” said Briscoe. “That is why I am doing the sports car stuff and 12 races with Roush. The goal is to get me as many races as I can … and it just happened that the opportunity arose to where the Stewart-Haas car was part time. They don’t want to run a full schedule, by any means, but there was enough time for me to run four or five races.

“It started out with Joe Custer calling me last November or December and offering me the Talladega race, so I knew I would race at least once … and then from there, it just progressed to having four more (races),” Briscoe continued. “I’m really excited about it. Their stuff is really fast right now. I don’t know how much SHR and Roush will work together, but I know that for me to get to drive for two of the best teams around is certainly beneficial.”

For Briscoe, the opportunity to run in more events was one he wasn’t about to pass up, especially considering his lone Xfinity appearance to date at Atlanta didn’t go according to plan.

Briscoe qualified mid-pack and struggled all day long throughout the Rinnai 250 and was only able to muster a 15th-place finish, one lap down to the race leaders.

“It’s been hard for me because I’ve only gotten to run one race,” admitted Briscoe. “Going into Atlanta, we didn’t test … so just showing up and racing was a big learning curve for me. It was honestly very humbling. The Xfinity stuff drives so much different from the trucks, just from a downforce standpoint and how you can get into the corner so much harder with the truck. It took me a while to get used to. It felt like it would drive like the ARCA car, but it didn’t at all.”