Chase Briscoe was as shocked as everyone else on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when Christopher Bell accidentally blurted out his future teammate’s name.
“I think a lot of things have changed with the silly season,” Briscoe said.
“I want to call [Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick] “Now that the ninth hole is open, a lot of things are going to change. It’s a domino effect that nobody saw coming.”
Of course he was joking.
When asked about leadership at Joe Gibbs Racing, Bell accidentally mentioned “Chase” coming in. He was referring to Briscoe, the front-runner to replace retiring Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Toyota, not Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott. But even though no official announcement has been made, Briscoe and others are enjoying the news.
Elliott’s teammate, Kyle Larson, joked that he was quitting soon after Bell’s gaffe. Briscoe, busy racing sprint cars next to him on the flat track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, didn’t chime in, but upon arriving for qualifying on Saturday, the Indiana native was quickly asked for his opinion on Bell’s season-ruining gaffe and walked away.
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“I just laughed. I thought it was pretty good,” Briscoe said. “Typical Christopher. It was pretty funny.”
“So, I [feel] Everybody knows what’s going on, right? I don’t know. I don’t know when the official announcement will be, but hopefully we’ll have something official soon, but I wasn’t that upset. I thought it was kind of funny.”
The move to Joe Gibbs Racing marks a big move for Briscoe, who was potentially left behind by Stewart-Haas Racing when the team closed at the end of this season. Three of the team’s four charters are to be sold, with the remaining one being retained by current co-owner Gene Haas for a scaled-down operation called the Haas Factory Team.
With veteran Kevin Harvick now retired, Briscoe is arguably SHR’s best driver. The 29-year-old Briscoe currently leads the company in the championship standings in 17th place, four spots ahead of rookie Josh Berry and well ahead of Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece. He’s also the team’s only driver to win a Cup championship, having clinched a playoff berth in 2022 with a win at Phoenix Raceway, parlaying that into a tenacious round-of-eight run.
If he takes over the No. 19 Toyota as planned, Briscoe will come to the team with much higher expectations, as Truex has 15 wins and two Championship 4 appearances in the past five years, after winning the regular-season title just last year.
