Chase Briscoe to join Joe Gibbs Racing, says Christopher Bell - ESPN

LOUDON, N.H. — Christopher Bell knew the instant he spilled the tea — without even the courtesy of a spoiler alert — that he would catch grief for prematurely disclosing Chase Briscoe was headed to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025.

Bell's goof was the talk of NASCAR — well, for everyone but Briscoe.

The rumor mill turned a bit more concrete when Bell was asked an innocuous question this week about a potential leadership shift at JGR in the wake of Martin Truex Jr.'s retirement at the end of the season.

«Whenever Chase comes into the car… „

Uh oh.

Bell stopped instantly and smiled, a realization swept over him there was no going back on this blunder. Briscoe, in his final year with Stewart-Haas Racing, would in fact inherit the No. 19 Toyota next season at JGR.

So as the jokes flew on social media — Kyle Larson wished NASCAR's most popular driver Chase Elliott the best in his new job — the news ground to a halt at the dirt track where Briscoe moonlights.

“Christopher texted me and was like, man I messed up so bad,» Briscoe said Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. «I was like, what happened? What do you mean? He says, go look at Twitter. I ran the sprint car race last night and had zero signal. Couldn't get a single text to go in, out. Couldn't receive any texts. So I couldn't get anything to load. Literally the last text I got was just Christopher saying, I messed up, go look at Twitter.»

The cliffhanger lingered for hours while Briscoe, 29, raced and finished second. Only when Briscoe left the track was he able to watch the video of Bell's racing reveal.

Briscoe, who has one career Cup win and has spent all four seasons with SHR, hoped for an official announcement on his new job in the next week or two.

«Nothing's official