How Chase Briscoe Landed a 2025 NASCAR Cup Ride at Joe Gibbs Racing

• Chase Briscoe has one victory in the Cup Series, 11 wins in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series, two in the Craftsman Truck Series, and an ARCA Menards Series championship.

• Tony Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, gave his drivers, which includes Briscoe, permission to start looking for another job because the team was closing at the end of the season.

• Christopher Bell knew his friend’s situation and he immediately contacted Briscoe and told him to reach out to JGR.

Race team owners constantly use the word “relationships” when defining the reason for their success. It’s used so often that it has actually become cliché.

Yet, the relationship Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe forged as children is a prime example as to why making good connections, or networking as it was once called, can be beneficial.

Granted, 29-year-old, fourth-year Cup Series driver Briscoe has one victory in the Cup Series, 11 wins in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series, two in the Craftsman Truck Series, and an ARCA Menards Series championship. However, throughout his NASCAR career it’s always been Bell who has given him direction.

After Bell turned down a driver development deal with Roush Fenway Racing, he contacted Briscoe and told him to go after it. That led to Briscoe’s ARCA ride with Briggs Cunningham and the championship. The following year he drove for Brad Keselowski in the truck series, recording one victory, 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in 23 races.

In 2021, Briscoe replaced Clint Bowyer in the No. 14 Ford at Stewart-Haas Racing. He notched his first Cup victory the following year at Phoenix.

When Tony Stewart gave his drivers permission to start looking for another job because the team was closing at the end of the season, Briscoe immediately began texting numerous team presidents about his availability.

Bell knew his friend’s situation and when he received an inkling that Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. wouldn’t return to the No. 19 Toyota in 2025, he immediately contacted Briscoe.

“Christopher texted me; I think the week SHR (was informed of the closing) and said, ‘Hey, I think Martin might not be coming back. You need to be wearing them out over there.’”

After Briscoe met with JGR executives the deal was done in less than a week.

Once again, relationships played a key role in Briscoe being the first of the four SHR drivers to know his racing future. An outdoorsman like Truex, he’s a good representative for sponsor Bass Pro. His professional and family values fit well with those at JGR, and he admits “the culture over here is different than anywhere I’ve ever been before.”

Gibbs has coached three NFL Super Bowl champions, but he knows drivers are different from other professional athletes because they must win and be company representatives. He recruited Briscoe as if he were courting a blue-chip football player, calling him two to three times daily telling him how much they wanted him in the car. That translated into one key difference between JGR and the other teams talking with Briscoe.

“Out of all the teams I met with, Joe was the only team that never said, ‘What can you bring?’” Briscoe said. “They just wanted me for me. That meant a lot to me personally.”

Briscoe knows his future in the sport hinges on him and crew chief James Small producing victories. However, as cliché as it sounds, relationships still play a key role.