Joe Gibbs Racing president Dave Alpern said that Christopher Bell, and then Ty Gibbs, just started to wear the eponymous team owner out over his longstanding mostly blanketed open-wheel dirt racing ban.
When Chase Briscoe was signed over the summer, that made three drivers that included the owner’s grandson, who all wanted to dabble in dirt racing. Checkmate.
“I think they just wore him out a little bit,” Alpern said Friday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “To be honest with you, and Christopher has been great about it, his fans were disappointed (in the ban) and there were a few injuries and (Alex Bowman) got hurt …
“People forget we have almost 500 employees, and they and the sponsors, and everyone are counting on the drivers so we have to protect these guys for their primary job … I think to (Bell’s) credit, over time, it was just a matter of letting things settle down a little bit.
“Then Chase Briscoe comes in and he loves doing it. I also personally believed that when those guys run those (races), it breeds new life into them and makes them better over here.”
Alpern said it’s not a carte blanche policy.
If a Gibbs driver wants to run any type of extracurricular race, they have to bring the idea to senior leadership which will surely include the elder Gibbs, Heather Gibbs, Alpern and new competition director Chris Gabehart. Gibbs had allowed Bell to race Sprint Cars and Midgets until 2022 when Stewart-Haas Racing engineer and veteran racer DJ Vanderley suffered a spinal injury racing in a Micro Sprint event promoted by the NASCAR contender.
“Like, if (Coach) sees someone flip over a fence in May, he may revoke the pass,” Alpern said. “But we have a competition group where there is a process. If a driver wants to run something, he brings it to the group.
“If the group recognizes the car, and we know the team building it, and we know the speeds or think it’s okay, then its probably okay for them to do it. So there’s a little bit of a process now. But yeah, I think everyone at the company is excited and even Ty is going to run some dirt stuff.”
That was the impetus for this just as much as Bell continuing to play advocate.
Toyota has both a Sprint Car and Midget engine, and the younger Gibbs has raced Micro Sprints all season at Millbridge Speedway in North Carolina and tested a 410 Sprint Car earlier in the month. Gibbs wanted to race.
“I think the racing is very fun and it’s something for me to do and I’m glad it got lifted and hopefully we can see Christopher win a ton of races, and hopefully me too, and Chase,” Gibbs said on Friday prior to the NASCAR Awards banquet in Downtown Charlotte.
“We have to credit Bell for all the time he’s put into making it happen. Bell has been trying to have this situation done for a long time and has slowly put it together. Having Chase come over at the same time that I’ve wanted to get involved with it just worked its way out. The higher ups and JGR are big dirt fans too so it was just time, and my mom.”
Briscoe said he isn’t sure that he made a difference, but replacing Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 car next year gave Joe Gibbs Racing three young drivers who have all dabbled in dirt racing and wants to do it with some degree of regularity.
“I think it just so happened that, you know, I came over here and I guess we have the majority now,” Briscoe said with a laugh.
Briscoe is the son of a non-winged Sprint Car racer and has sporadically raced Sprints and Midgets over the past decade. He and wife Marissa just welcomed twins so he isn’t sure how much he will race but he welcomes having the opportunity to at least.
“It’ll be fun though to especially see Christopher back on dirt, you know, just with all the stuff that he’s been able to do in his career and the battles that him and (Kyle) Larson had,” Briscoe said. “For the fans, I think to be able to have that again is going to be really exciting.
“So yeah, I’m just thankful that I at least have the opportunity to go do it. You know, at first when I came over there, I thought even if I really wanted to go do like a memorial race that was important to me or something, I wouldn’t even have the option.
“Now I do so I’m thankful that they opened up the reins a little bit.”
Briscoe, because of the twins, doesn’t intend to be at Chili Bowl this year and Bell doesn’t currently plan to be either.
“It’s definitely not too late (to field an entry) but Right now, I don’t plan on doing it,” Bell said. “I have a couple of things personally that I have going on. You never know. You never know. I love the Chili Bowl. I can tell you that I will be at the Tulsa Shootout. I’m not sure if I will be driving or not. My father-in-law (Brian Kemenah) has a team there.
“I will have my cars there. I will be at Tulsa Shootout, regardless of whether I’m racing or not. Beyond that, I don’t have anything planned yet. I’ve got some other things I have to sort through and then I’ll be Team Dirt Racing.”
What will that schedule look like?
“One thing I like to do when it comes to dirt racing is I don’t like to make a schedule,” Bell said. “I really just go week-by-week and if I think a week looks quiet, I’ll look for opportunities to go race and then it’s a matter of who has a car available and can I get in it, things like that.
“I’m definitely not going to make a schedule so to say, but yeah, I’ll take it week-by-week. Its nice to know that it’s in my hands and the competition department’s hands. I’m excited about it and looking forward to reconnecting with my dirt fans.”
Briscoe has a similar mindset.
“Even on the professional side, I’ll start looking at some races once I get settled,” Briscoe said. “But really, I want my main focus to be this No. 19 team. The desire isn’t there to go dirt racing and only because I want to do this right. I want this to go as well as it can and that’s where my head is at next year.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.
