REPORT UPDATE: NASCAR Driver Chase Elliott Announce his Wedding Date with….read more

“I’ve gotten used to it now and I’m loving it,” she said. “I love watching him race and it gives me something to do every weekend and gives me some time to support him.”

A big part of her support includes helping with Chase’s sponsors. Sponsors require obligations from the drivers they sponsor that go beyond the track. There are events, appearances and the like those drivers are contractually obligated to do. The spouse isn’t obligated, however. Marissa enjoys helping, though that wasn’t the case when first married.

“No, I didn’t in the beginning,” she said. “But once he started getting bigger and bigger sponsors, I was always there helping them. I was always involved. So, I feel like I’ve kind of been involved in most of his sponsorships. Not like super involved, but just being there with him and going to events and stuff like that. I feel like I’ve been a part of it all in a way, which is great.”

Marissa, and Chase, learned another lesson in 2020; that support can be a two-way street.

In May last year NASCAR returned to racing for the first time since COVID shut down the world. The first races back were held at Darlington Speedway in South Carolina. Racing in the Xfinity series at the time and at the time no fans were allowed only a limited number of crewmembers and the drivers who were kept separate.

Chase was alone at the track. The first race back for the series was scheduled for Tuesday.

A few weeks earlier Marissa and Chase announced they were expecting their first child. On that Tuesday Marissa went to the doctor for what she thought was a routine well-baby check. Stuck in a motorhome at the track, Chase joined her via Facetime. It was during that call the couple learned that the baby girl, with a due date of December 1 a day after their first wedding anniversary, was no longer alive. With the race still scheduled, and the rain pouring down outside the couple had to grieve via Facetime, alone, yet together. Two hours later the race was postponed, and Chase rushed back to Charlotte North Carolina, an agonizing nearly two-hour drive, to be with his wife.

It was during this time that Marissa learned that NASCAR is much more than a sport, it’s a family. A family ready to step up and help when needed.

“We had so many people reach out to us,” she said. “Whether it was fans, other drivers, drivers’ wives I think a few people reached out to Chase too, like Michael Waltrip his brother and just so many people.

“They just, I mean, they cry with you. They wrap their arms around you and tell you everything’s going to be okay. And they’re here for you and all that. And it’s just amazing. It’s overwhelming in a good way to have the support like that.

“You don’t realize it until, you see people going through things every day, especially in the NASCAR world and you give them a hug, but then you’re in the hot seat. And it’s just, it’s amazing.”

The Xfinity race would be rained out on Wednesday allowing Chase to remain by his wife’s side. But he knew he still had a job to do. His team, his fans, his sponsors were depending on him. NASCAR also has a history of racing on, even in the face of tragedy.

Chase knew he would have to leave his wife and return to the track, and his job. Chase told his wife that he was going to win the race for her.

And that’s just what he did.

Chase held off one of the winningest racers in the history of NASCAR, Kyle Busch, to win at Darlington. After it was over however and he climbed from his car parked at the start-finish line, there was no smile, only tears.

“This is for my wife. This has been the hardest week I’ve ever had to deal with,” he said after the win, his eyes filled with tears. “When I took the lead, I was crying in my car. This is more than a race win. This is the biggest win of my life after the toughest day of my life.”

The couple would experience another miscarriage in October. But would also receive good news as Chase was moved up the top tier Cup series at Stewart-Haas for the 2021 season.

This year has been a different one for the couple. Marissa is well along with her third pregnancy, a boy due in October. And she is also getting a chance to reverse roles with her race car driving husband.

Marissa will get behind the wheel for the Better Half Dash, a charity event that allows the spouses of drivers to race each other in small Legends Cars for charity. This year, unlike year’s past, the race will be held virtually; according to Marissa that’s a very good thing.

“I am so scared of going fast,” she said with a laugh.” I rode around with Chase one time in a truck at the Charlotte motor Speedway, and I thought I was going to die, and he couldn’t hear me screaming.

“I mean, I’m embarrassed, but it made me gain respect for him because I couldn’t do that.”

With this year’s race being virtual Chase will be there coaching her the entire way. She’ll be looking for bragging rights in the household; but not just a good finish:

“I think I have a chance to win this thing, to be honest with you,” she said. “So we’ll see. But if I do, I will be bragging for a very long time.”

All joking aside, Marissa will be supporting two charities: The Samantha and Kyle Busch Bundle of Joy Fund and Levine Children’s Hospital.

“Last year during our miscarriage, our first one such a, such a tough time,” she said. “I feel bad for all the people that go through it and I wish I could do more to help, but I’m in the same boat.”

“Samantha Busch reached out to me,” she added. “She texted me and said, ‘Hey, this is Samantha’, and sent me a long message. And ever since then, we’ve just been friends and we’ve gone to dinners and she’s very supportive and she’s also going through it. She just has such a big heart, her and Kyle, both having a foundation like that. So of course, I want to support it as much as I can.”

Her other charity is one that Huffy, one of Chase’s major sponsors, and the brand that will be on Marissa’s virtual car during the race, supports, Levine Children’s Hospital. Last year Huffy donated $1000 for each race Chase won to the hospital. Chase scored 9 wins on the real track and 1 on IRacing bringing the total to $10,000.

“I was actually a patient at that hospital a few years ago,” Marissa said of Levine. “I ruptured my spleen of the child. I was very accident prone. It’s just such a great hospital.

“I couldn’t have better charities, honestly.”

Raising money for charity is noteworthy of course, but Marissa wants to send a bigger message, one to others who have been through what she, and Chase have.

“I want to say that there’s hope. And there’s a better tomorrow and you’ve got to go through the hardships to get to where you want to be.

“Just like Chase made it in the racing world, he slept on couches and volunteered and look where he’s at today. So you have to go through all of that to get to this point. And it’s hard because time is the only thing that you can really count on that will heal will help you.”

Just over a year since that first loss, Marissa and Chase Briscoe are in a very good place. They will celebrate their second wedding anniversary in November, and with their healthy baby boy due in October they will certainly have a great deal to celebrate.

It will also mark the second year that Marissa will be a NASCAR driver’s wife. And she will be ready to continue supporting him on and off the track well into the future.

“I cannot imagine life any other way,” she said.

The Better Half iRacing Dash will air during a special edition of NASCAR Race Hub this Thursday, June 10 at 6 p.m. ET on FS1.