BRISCOE REACTS TO BELL LEAKING HIS FUTURE NASCAR PLANS
Driver Christopher Bell’s verbal gaffe on Friday afternoon made Chase Briscoe’s NASCAR Cup future crystal clear, at least to everyone but Briscoe.
Bell, who drives the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, was questioned about how a potential leadership void at the team would be filled following Martin Truex Jr.’s retirement at the end of 2024 during a news conference on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Bell continued, “And whenever Chase comes into the car…,” after summarizing his own contributions as well as those of his teammates Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs. Bell turned to his public relations representative, smiled, and burst out laughing at that very moment.
At Iowa Speedway last weekend, rumors that Chase Briscoe, who drives the No. 14 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing, would replace Truex started to circulate. Bell’s incident only fueled those rumors.
In a playful manner, even Cup driver Kyle Larson joined in, hinting on his X (previously Twitter) feed that the “Chase” Bell was referencing might be his Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott.
With little to no cell phone service, Briscoe was competing in a sprint car race at the small dirt track close to NHMS.
Briscoe said, “Last night, I was operating the Sprint car and I had no signal.” “So, when Christopher texted me and said, “Hey, I messed up,” I asked, ‘What do you mean? “Check Twitter,” he stated.
“After that, I reached this track and lost signal for about six hours, which prevented anything from loading, including text messages. It was awful—I couldn’t send anything or call anyone.
“Therefore, I was unaware of what had occurred or even what was happening.”
Briscoe responded, “Man, I need to call Rick Hendrick about that ride that opened up,” when asked what he did after he got full signal and saw all the talk Bell’s error had generated.
“I felt that Larson’s remarks were really excellent. I’m not sure. I chuckled over it.
On a more serious note, Briscoe expressed disappointment over SHR’s termination but acknowledged that transitioning to a new organization will bring with it new challenges.
“It’s going to be different everywhere I go, you know, getting to know a new group of guys and how they act and behave, but it’s really bittersweet,” he remarked. “Words cannot describe how close-knit the No. 14 group is.
We were just discussing how strange it would be for all of us to not collaborate when we were at the shop on Tuesday. As a whole, this group will never function.
It’s a little depressing to realize how wonderful we all feel to be together. It’s challenging to locate.
