Matt Briggs and his underdog team stay atop the Mini Stock standings at Florence Motor Speedway

Florence Motor Speedway has seen more than 20 drivers compete in the track‘s Mini Stocks division this season, and even though the competition is stiffer than in year‘s past, the same name is still at the top of the division‘s standings.

Matt Briggs is the two-time and defending Mini Stocks champion at Florence, a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series track in Timmonsville, South Carolina. He‘s been the model of consistency throughout his career, a trend that has continued this summer. With three wins and eight top fives in eight races, Briggs currently leads the track standings by 28 points.

Briggs has seen other drivers improve over the last three years, which drives him to get better himself.

“The competitors definitely got faster compared to last year,” Briggs said. “The competition is definitely stiffer than what it was the year before. I feel like everyone worked on their stuff and got better.

“One thing that keeps me motivated is everyone else getting better and closer now.”

Briggs came into this weekend 34th in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division IV national points standings.

The South Carolinian grew up around the race track. His dad was a regular at South Carolina’s Summerville Speedway. When he was young, Briggs would go with his dad to practice on Wednesdays and races on Saturdays, and ever since, “I’ve been hooked to it,” Briggs said. “So he inspired me to do this.”

Briggs ran his first race when he was 12. After just racing here and there for a while, about five years ago he decided to get into the sport full-time. He won his first title at Florence in 2018. He won another at Myrtle Beach Speedway in 2020, then returned to his home track where he was again champion in 2022 and 2023.

“Within the last five years or so, we’d go get a car and just work on it and try to get a little better with it,” he said. “Then we got better equipment over the years. We started off small, and I feel like now we have pretty decent equipment… We do all right for what we have.”

It‘s a family operation for the Briggs Motorsports team. Briggs‘ brother, Shane, also competes in Florence‘s Mini Stocks, while their dad, Douglas, helps both of them with their cars.

They race out of a small shop at Briggs‘ home.

“It is hard,” he said. “I feel like we’re more of the underdog team, you know? It’s just me, my pops, and my little brother … And we race against some guys that they‘ve got a lot of support from a lot of big, big companies. And I feel like we do pretty well for what we’re working with.”

Briggs tries to be a mentor to his younger brother, who got his first win earlier this season.

It‘s Shane, however, who has been the teacher and coach on the Briggs family team.

“He’s definitely helped me with like our tires and teaching me to not be scared to try different things,” Briggs said of his brother. “He does a lot of iRacing, so he’s pretty good with like the tire side of that. He understands it, I feel like, a little more than me. So he’s definitely helped me with the tire selection and placement and tire size and stuff like that. He’s definitely helped me improve on that side of my racing.”

Getting to work with family is why Briggs enjoys racing so much. They all three spend a lot of time together, and Briggs said, “We have a ball doing it.”

He‘s racing for a third straight title this year for his dad.

“It would mean a lot, especially because I know my dad. That’s the main reason I’m doing it is for him,” Briggs said. “I just want to make him proud, and I know that doing that would.”

This year‘s title will be anything but easy as the second half of the season heats up, but if there‘s anyone who knows how to win at Florence it‘s Briggs. No matter who they‘re up against, he‘s ready to take on any competitor who comes his way.

“I feel like those guys got a lot of support this year and we’re kind of in the same old spot where we’ve been, but it is a very rewarding feeling,” he said.

“You‘ve just got to be consistent. Even if you’re not the fastest that week, you‘ve just got to make the best of it and don’t give up, and it’s never over until the checkered flag waves. Anything can happen.”

Briggs thanked his sponsor, Smok’n Meats and BBQ, for the support this season.

Racing will return to Florence on Saturday with two Limited Late Models races, SC Vintage, Mini Stocks, Chargers, and Thunder & Lightning, all beginning at 7 p.m.