Joe Gibbs Racing will permit Cup Series drivers Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs to race on dirt moving forward.
The Cup Series teams, owned by the eponymous legendary football coach, has long taken a wary view of allowing its drivers to compete in Midgets and Sprint Cars especially, citing the risk of injury and how missing races would impact team business.
Tony Stewart missed a decade of high-level Sprint Car racing driving for Gibbs. The team loosened the restrictions for several years, allowing Bell to begin racing with greater frequency, but again banned extracurricular racing in 2023.
The impetus for that change was simultaneously the death of Coy Gibbs, who had a greater tolerance for dirt racing than his father but also the injury sustained by Stewart-Haas Racing engineer DJ Vanderley racing a Micro Sprint at the Texas Motor Speedway dirt track at an event promoted by Bell.
But, according to a story that appeared in The Athletic by Jeff Gluck, that policy has been reversed.
“We sort of talked things over to come up with a process by which they can request to run certain races,” Gibbs told The Athletic. “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.”
That decision came after a meeting last month where Gibbs outlined a procedure, which also still bans especially risky races, with Briscoe citing Eldora Speedway in a non-winged Sprint Car as an example due to the speed of the half-mile and the lack of a wing, which also adds a layer of protection for the driver.
But now, with the policy reversal, the three drivers are now permitted to race in World of Outlaws events and USAC Midget events. They could even race in the Chili Bowl, an event both Bell and Briscoe have spent the past decade racing. Bell won it three consecutive times from 2017 to 2019.
Even Ty Gibbs, the grandson of the team owner and son of Coy, has tested a 410 Sprint in recent months and expressed interest in the discipline.
None of three have outlined races they plan to enter. Their veteran teammate, Denny Hamlin, has never expressed an interest in racing on dirt.
The decision to loosen restrictions was especially surprising in the aftermath of Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman missing four races after suffering a spinal injury in a Sprint Car crash.
At the same time, his teammate, Kyle Larson continues to run up to 50 Sprint Car and Midget races a year and believes himself to be better on Sundays because of it. Winning six Cup races this season did not hurt his argument.
