Chase Briscoe has been to a handful of football games played by Indiana University. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect to see the Hoosiers win the NCAA football National Championship.
And yet, the red-and-white IU team defeated the University of Miami in Monday night’s title game by a score of 27-21, going an undefeated 16-0 in an improbable program turnaround that stunned even the most loyal of Indiana supporters like Briscoe, driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the NASCAR Cup Series.
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“I probably went to, I don’t know, five or six IU football games, and I mean, there wasn’t 6,500 people in the grandstands,” Briscoe told NASCAR.com Tuesday via Zoom. “I think the only time I ever saw them win is when they played against Ball State, and even then, it was probably a barn burner just because, I mean, they were just not good, truthfully.
“So, yeah, it’s crazy. … It’s mind-blowing. It’s like my mind can’t fathom the fact that they’re good at football because I’ve seen them be so bad for so long.”
MORE: 2026 Cup Series schedule | Chase Briscoe’s driver page
The last year has featured a strong resurgence for Indiana sports fans. In addition to Monday’s college football title for Indiana University, Briscoe — a native of Mitchell, Indiana — made his own run to the Championship 4 in 2025 after winning three races in his first season with JGR. Toss in an NBA Finals run for the Indiana Pacers, the hype behind the WNBA’s Indiana Fever with star Caitlin Clark and a hot start for the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts (before an unfortunate end to their playoff hopes), Hoosiers have had plenty to cheer about over the last year.
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“Maybe it’s because I’m from there, but I just feel like sports in Indiana is like — even when we’re bad, the state still just gets behind their teams,” Briscoe said. “But certainly when the teams are winning and the hype is there, there’s just nothing like being in Indianapolis, especially, but really the whole state of Indiana. I mean the past 365 days for Indiana sports fans has been pretty dang good.”
Briscoe feels that support even from his own fan base. Mitchell High School, Briscoe’s alma mater, hosted a watch party for the 2025 Cup Series championship race as he sought his first Cup title back in November.
“Certainly like my fan base is a majority of Indiana people — even more specifically Lawrence County, where I’m from, Orange County, Monroe County, all the places right there around where I’m from,” Briscoe said. “I mean, I guarantee you if I got on my Facebook or whatever, like my fan page, my analytics (would show) 85 to 90% of the fans that follow it are going to be from Indiana. It’s really special just how Indiana does that with their their teams or their drivers — just the pride of being a Hoosier. I feel like it’s so different from every other state.”
