The addition of Chase Briscoe to the Joe Gibbs Racing roster brings another driver from the dirt ranks to one of NASCAR’s most powerful teams.
The NASCAR Cup Series lineup at JGR also includes three-time Chili Bowl champion Christopher Bell and fledgling dirt driver Ty Gibbs, grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs.
Faced with a quorum of drivers who enjoy competing at dirt tracks, Joe Gibbs has relaxed his embargo on extracurricular racing.
While Bell is excited by the decision, Briscoe is far more concerned with acclimating to a new Toyota team after seven years in the Ford camp, most recently in a Stewart-Haas Racing Cup car.
Getting the lay of the land isn’t Briscoe’s only priority. On Oct. 8, his wife, Marissa, gave birth to twins Cooper Banks Briscoe and Collins Ivy Briscoe.
“Honestly, as of right now, I don’t have anything on the calendar,” Biscoe said of dirt-track plans. “I’m not going to do Chili Bowl, just with the twins and everything else. It would be a lot to leave my wife for a week.
“I don’t really know what my dirt schedule looks like. Right now, I’m totally content not running anything, just with everything I’ve got going on at home and then on the professional side, trying to get my feet settled at JGR.”
Briscoe will succeed 2017 Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. at JGR in what arguably will constitute the most significant opportunity of his career.
“Maybe when I get more settled I’ll go back to running some stuff, but right now, honestly, the desire’s not really there,” Briscoe said. “I’m so focused on doing this thing right and having this opportunity go as well as it can.
“I just want all my focus to be on that.”
Bell said he would attend the Tulsa Shootout over New Year’s weekend, but he has to work out some personal scheduling issues before he’ll decide if he can drive in the event. The 2025 Chili Bowl also is a possibility.
“Right now, I don’t have any plans to do it,” Bell said. “I’ve got a couple things, personally, that’s going on, but you never know, you never know. I love the Chili Bowl.”
Two-time Chili Bowl winner and 2021 NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Larson, who competes regularly in several sprint car series—including the High Limit Racing Series he co-owns with Brad Sweet—looks forward to welcoming Bell back to the dirt ranks.
“If he chooses to race more often, I think that’s great for him, I think that’s great for the sport—NASCAR and grass-roots racing,” Larson said. “I’m glad that he’s going to do it again, and hopefully we’ll get to have many more battles in the midgets and sprint cars.”
- NASCAR’s Global Vision Extends From Interlagos to Daytona - December 3, 2024
- Three-Time Champ Logano Headlines NASCAR’s Night of Champions - November 22, 2024
- Dirt Trackers Taking Over JGR - November 22, 2024