“Joe is very vocal about me not dirt track racing… And he doesn’t love it at all.” Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, said these words about his team owner less than a year ago. Despite entering NASCAR as one of the best dirt track racers in the country, Bell’s Micro Sprint start in July 2022 was the last in a long time. Yet that restrictive atmosphere in the JGR fold drastically changed with the No. 19 car’s new face, Chase Briscoe.

Joe Gibbs’ perception of dirt racing seemingly changed, as he relaxed the rules of off-NASCAR racing for his drivers. That is how Christopher Bell went on to clinch significant Chili Bowl victories in 2025. However, the person who was behind this huge overhaul is now stepping back.

Chase Briscoe makes a surprising announcement

Well, it was a little baffling, indeed. Chase Briscoe grew up racing 410 sprint cars, featuring a huge engine at the heart of a roll cage and cartoonish tires – not much of a recipe for safety. Yet his Stewart-Haas Racing superiors let him do dirt duties along with his Cup Series work, since it helped the latter. “It slows the Cup car down so much when I run a sprint car or a midget before the weekend,” Briscoe said last year. Briscoe notably increased his sprint car involvement in 2024, leading the Chase Briscoe Racing team with rising star Karter Sarff behind the wheel. He himself raced the Dirt Duels in New Hampshire. Given that another dirt racing stalwart would be joining his team, Joe Gibbs scaled back restrictions starting from 2025. Yet bizarrely, Briscoe has now taken a back seat.

According to NASCAR journalist Stephen Stumpf on X, Chase Briscoe “Says he’s mostly ‘retired’ from dirt racing.” This comes as a jaw-dropping development, after Briscoe effected the crucial change in JGR. The reason may lie in trying to focus on his Cup Series duties. Briscoe changed OEMs, from Ford to Toyota, and his adjustment has been taking time. Despite fetching 5 top-tens and 4 top-fives already, he has not been without problems. After clinching a 4th-place finish at the Daytona 500, NASCAR penalized his team with an L2 penalty for a modified spoiler based on the No. 19 Toyota. That led to a fine of $100,000, the loss of 100 team points, and 10 playoff points.

Moreover, Chase Briscoe is also not interested in the Indianapolis 500. That is also surprising since 410 Sprint cars, which the speedster is most familiar with, are the most powerful major class of open-wheel dirt racing. They resemble the final evolution of Indy racers of the Fifties. Despite having a resume of experience in the open-wheel world and also being an Indiana native, Briscoe is not interested. He further said ahead of the 109th iteration of the Indy 500, as Stephen Stumpf wrote: “Would love to take in the festivities of the Indy 500, but no desire to race it.” Briscoe also added that he is super focused on Charlotte Motor Speedway instead of Daytona, after his bad luck in the latter. “Winning the Brickyard 400 would mean more than the Daytona 500.”

Indeed, Chase Briscoe has his eyes on Charlotte even for this weekend. After all, one of the crown jewel events of NASCAR is coming up.

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Fulfilling his childhood dreams

Well, Chase Briscoe’s ascension in the NASCAR Cup Series was far from smooth. He thought that his years of racing dirt micro 600cc cars and sprint cars would be the end. His father told him that he would not be able to provide for his passion. Yet Briscoe got his big NASCAR break via a Facebook post inviting folks to join Michael Waltrip Racing. Thus, he kick-started his stock car racing career, and Briscoe hasn’t stopped since. It has been over four years since Briscoe entered the Cup Series. Yet he still looks at the racing like a dewy-eyed child. This weekend, NASCAR heads to Charlotte, which is a rougher racetrack. The slick surface makes it more fun for competitors, who are gearing up for an exhaustive 600-miler.

But for Chase Briscoe, it is like living his childhood dream. The JGR driver confessed his fanboy emotions ahead of the Coca-Cola 600: “(The Coca-Cola 600) was one of those races, as a kid, you dreamed about just racing in…The oval itself has kind of turned into a lot of our favorite race track. Being able to run here this spring is fun — the road course is fun, too — but the oval definitely has a little more just characteristics to it.” He added, “It’s one that we’re all excited for, because as a driver, this place is one of those tracks where you feel like you actually can make a difference.”

Clearly, Chase Briscoe has his priorities straightened out for the rest of his season. Let us see if the stellar Cup Series driver can live up to them in the upcoming events.