Joe Gibbs is calling an audible.
After more than two years, the football-coach-turned-NASCAR-team-owner will largely lift the restrictions that prohibited his Cup Series drivers from extracurricular racing on dirt. The decision comes as the team prepares to add a second driver with a dirt background to its Cup roster in 2025 (Chase Briscoe is joining Christopher Bell), plus new interest in dirt racing from a third driver, Ty Gibbs.
In a statement to The Athletic, Gibbs said he has “always preferred (drivers’) focus remain on racing in NASCAR.” But with three-quarters of JGR’s Cup roster expressing a desire to race dirt (all but Denny Hamlin), the team “felt it was fair to come up with a process to consider those opportunities.”
“We sort of talked things over to come up with a process by which they can request to run certain races,” Gibbs said. “If they get approval from everyone they need on our competition side, then they are free to run the race. That includes dirt, but also potentially other forms of racing.”
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The decision is a welcome development for Bell, an elite dirt racer who is one of only three people to win the prestigious Chili Bowl Midget Nationals at least three times. Bell has been sidelined from dirt since mid-2022 with the exception of two micro sprint races in May.
“I was definitely caught off guard by the change of policy,” Bell said. “I was super shocked, but with Chase coming on board and Ty growing an interest in dirt racing, it’s nice we have the majority of our team aligned with it now.”
Briscoe, who will replace the retiring Martin Truex Jr. next season, said Gibbs brought up dirt racing in their initial talks about joining the team. Briscoe is a dirt car owner and has also driven on such tracks regularly, though his schedule will be reduced after the arrival of twins last month.
“I could tell it wasn’t a hard ‘no,’ but it wasn’t something at the time they were super thrilled about,” Briscoe said. “It didn’t feel like the door was shut completely; there was definitely a crack. But I didn’t know in my first year getting there, I would still be able to go do stuff if I wanted to.”
Late last month, Gibbs called the drivers to ask for a meeting at the season’s end to lay out the team’s new approval process. Briscoe’s interpretation was that the requests would largely be approved unless they were deemed particularly risky, such as running at Eldora Speedway in a non-wing sprint car, which offers less protection in the event of a flip.
Racing outside of NASCAR has long been a topic of debate due to the risk of injury. Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman broke his back in an April 2023 sprint car crash, missed four Cup Series races and failed to qualify for the playoffs that season. He has not returned to a sprint car since.
But Bowman’s Hendrick teammate, Kyle Larson, has continued to race in dozens of dirt events each year and has won crown jewel races such as the Knoxville Nationals.
Drivers with a dirt background, such as Larson, Bell, Briscoe and NASCAR regular-season champion Tyler Reddick, have skills that allow them to find different lines on the racetrack or quickly adapt to changing conditions. At New Hampshire Motor Speedway this season, when NASCAR used wet weather tires on a rainy day, five of the top seven finishers were drivers who grew up dirt racing (with Bell and Briscoe finishing 1-2).
Bell and Briscoe have not announced their participation in any upcoming races — both said they had no plans to run the Chili Bowl in January — but expressed relief they had the option to do so. Briscoe floated the idea of running meaningful races such as the BC39 midget event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Bell said driving sprint cars in particular is “advantageous” for stock car racers.
After all, he noted, modern-day NASCAR has limited practice time and practically no testing, so the additional seat time could “improve my performance on Sundays.”
“It’s refreshing knowing I’ll be able to do whatever I want to do,” Bell said. “I’m super excited to reconnect with my dirt fan base and see everybody at a dirt track soon.”
(Top photo of Joe Gibbs and Christopher Bell: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
