Joe Gibbs Racing officially announced in late June that Chase Briscoe will replace Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE in 2025. It was one of the earlier announcements made in the silly season but the team did not have much of a choice on timing considering one of their drivers, Christopher Bell, had mistakenly revealed the news during a press conference a week before.
Advertisement
Bell had only said, “Whenever Chase comes into the car…” and quickly stopped himself with a sheepish self-realizing grin. But those words had been more than enough for the media and the fans to pick up on where things were going. The news began trending across social media hot as fire and forced Joe Gibbs Racing to intervene and lift the veils on Briscoe themselves.
Months have passed since and Briscoe just recently spoke about what actually happened on that hilarious day. All the drivers were in New Hampshire for the Cup Series race at the time. Briscoe and Bell had their motorhomes parked next to each other and this naturally induced conversation between them. Following a 30-40 minute talk, the former had taken leave to participate in a sprint car race.
Just before he went on his hot lap, he’d received a message from Bell. He narrated to NBC Sports, “I’m leaving [the dirt track] and I get this text message from Christopher that says, ‘Chase, I really messed up. I’m sorry.’ And then I had no signal for like 9 hours. So, I had no idea what he was talking about.” Fortunately for Bell, every party found the humor in his mistake and took advantage of it.
Briscoe and Bell both advance to the 2024 Cup Series Round of 12
The future Joe Gibbs Racing teammates are in for a good time in their runs to the 2024 Cup Series championship. Bell finished fifth in Bristol on Saturday night as Briscoe followed in eighth place. Their results secured them both a seat in the upcoming Round of 12, which will kickstart in Kansas.
Briscoe was the less likely of the two to cut into the next round but he was able to do so thanks to his recent momentum. The eighth-place finish was his third top-10 in the past four weeks. He expressed strong confidence about being good enough to compete for the title before the Bristol race. The optimism has only grown now.
Bell, on the other hand, wasn’t all pleased with his performance in Bristol. Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson led 462 laps to dominate the day and this didn’t offer the No. 20 driver any comfort. He will hope to go out to Kansas and beyond with the fiery hope of defeating Larson and the others.
