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Normally, the portion of the roof just above the driver's side window on a stock car is reserved for the driver's name. But for the rest of his rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Chase Briscoe will have the name of an important figure in his life and career there as he races with a heavy heart.

Briggs Cunningham III, a former car owner in the ARCA Menards Series who served as co-owner of Cunningham Motorsports, died Wednesday at the age of 89. In 2016, Briscoe was the driver of Cunningham Motorsports' No. 77, which he piloted to six wins en route to the series championship before being tabbed to move up to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

In a Twitter post on Thursday, Briscoe revealed that his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford would feature Cunningham's name above the driver's side window as well as a memorial decal in the likeness of Cunningham Motorsports' logo for the remainder of the 2021 season.

On Wednesday, Briscoe credited Cunningham for giving him his shot in stock car racing, as he had first worked as a volunteer for his team before getting the chance to drive his car.

"It's hard to put into words what this man meant to me, what he did for me, and the friendship we had," Briscoe wrote. "He was like another grandfather to me. If it wasn't for Briggs Cunningham III there is no way I would have been doing what I'm doing today or even had the opportunity to do half the things I've been able to do.

"... I owe a lot to Briggs Cunningham III, he believed in me when nobody else did and I'll never forget how amazing of a man he was."

Over the course of a decade from the late 2000s to the 2010s, Cunningham won a total of 40 ARCA races with 14 different drivers, several of whom went on to make it to NASCAR. In addition to Briscoe, Cunningham also fielded cars for current or eventual NASCAR drivers Alex Bowman, Parker Kligerman, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric, Ty Majeski, Austin Wayne Self, Kyle Weatherman and more. Cunningham's final season as a car owner was in 2017, as he sold his team to crew chief Chad Bryant in 2018.