NASCAR NEWS: Chase Briscoe Confirms His Joe Gibbs Racing Move After Christopher Bell Fails to Cover-Up His Mistake

2024 has been a roller-coaster season for Chase Briscoe. From being touted as Stewart-Haas Racing’s new leader to facing the uncertainty of sitting out of the 2025 season, fortune seemed to not favor the 29-year-old lately. That was until Christopher Bell made a surprising slip-up as he spoke to the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

With JGR bidding farewell to Martin Truex Jr at the end of the 2024 season, many were expecting one of the four drivers from Tony Stewart’s camp to take that spot. So when Christopher Bell accidentally revealed Chase Briscoe’s imminent arrival, the former SHR driver had no choice but to come clean to the NASCAR community. That being said, Briscoe also took a moment to look back on his time with SHR.

Chase Briscoe has nothing but praises for Tony Stewart as he prepares for Coach Gibbs’ side

After Tony Stewart announced SHR’s plans to call it quits at the end of the 2024 season, Chase Briscoe found himself hunting for a full-time seat. With the driver market seemingly exploding with options as of late, this put Briscoe in a race against time to secure his future in the Cup Series. Fortunately, the 29-year-old had already proven himself enough during his time with SHR for big names to come calling.

Still, when asked if Tony Stewart had been heavily involved in trying to get his former drivers new seats, the answer was rather unexpected. The former #14 driver shared with FrontStretch; “Yeah, honestly not a whole lot truthfully. I talked to Tony a little bit. I just called him and told him how appreciative I was for everything he has done for me over the last seven years of my career. So it means a lot.”

At the same time, Briscoe also highlighted how he’s always been a die-hard Smoke fan, much like many of us. From his time with SHR in the Xfinity Series to winning his only Cup series race, Tony Stewart’s side had molded Briscoe into a driver Coach Gibbs would be glad to take on board. Still, Briscoe made it known that Stewart had negligible involvement in free agency.

But at the same time, the 29-year-old also hinted at Smoke pulling some strings for a shot at Joe Gibbs Racing. The soon-to-be former SHR driver shared, “He made it pretty adamant that anything he could do to help me and you know anybody he needed to call, he was certainly going to put in a good recommendation for me. So I don’t know if Coach (Gibbs) called him or Tony called him or what happened, but that all obviously ended up working out.” 

While it’s safe to say Tony Stewart may not have been as involved as many insiders and veterans would like him to be, Smoke could have certainly put in a good word for Briscoe at JGR.

This story is building…