As Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart let the team’s drivers know its plan to shut down at season’s end, Chase Briscoe was already plotting his next move.
After Briscoe was officially announced Tuesday as the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota beginning in 2025, the Indiana native detailed how a deal with JGR came to fruition.
According to Briscoe, he began texting potential suitors in an SHR conference room during the team meeting that revealed the end of SHR’s tenure in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“It really started the day that Tony (Stewart) told us all,” Briscoe explained. “He kind of asked us at the end, when he told all of the drivers, ‘Do you have any questions?’ and I said, ‘What does this mean about us being able to talk to other people?’
“He said, ‘You guys are free to do what you want.’ So really in the conference room, I just started texting all of the team presidents that I knew, and Dave (Alpern, president, Joe Gibbs Racing) was one of them, and just said ‘Hey, Stewart-Haas told us today that we were free to do whatever we want, and would love the opportunity to talk to you guys if there is any potential there,’” Briscoe continued.
“I think the SHR announcement got done on Tuesday, I want to say. Wednesday night, Dave called me and asked if I wanted to go to breakfast on Thursday.”
The 29-year-old’s future was solidified five days later.
“It was a super quick thing — it was like four or five days, but yeah, it was literally sitting in the conference room at SHR,” Briscoe noted.
From the time the ink dried on his multi-year contract to the time of the announcement, Briscoe and everyone involved stayed radio silent — almost.
While rumors swirled within the industry, the silence worked like a charm until this past weekend at New Hampshire when Briscoe’s future JGR teammate Christopher Bell practically spilled the beans during a press conference.
“Whenever Chase comes into the car…,” Bell began before realizing he’d made a mistake, promptly smirking as his face grew red.
Bell went on to win both the Xfinity and Cup Series races at New Hampshire.
On Tuesday, JGR officials handed Bell the duty of officially announcing Briscoe as the driver of the No. 19 Toyota.
“Since I had the mistake of starting this on Friday, I guess I’ll get to finish it out today,” Bell smirked.
Bell and Briscoe’s relationship goes back to when Briscoe was 12 years old.
“If it wasn’t for Christopher, I don’t know if I’d be in NASCAR period,” Briscoe said.
“We started racing online together and formed this friendship…”
To add another layer to their relationship, Briscoe slept on Bell’s couch for a period of time as the third-generation racer attempted to find a landing spot in NASCAR.
Briscoe credited Bell for the reason he earned an opportunity in NASCAR, starting back in 2015 when Bell tipped Briscoe off about being a driver-development opportunity with Roush Fenway Racing.
“Back in 2015 I want to say it was, he called me and said Roush-Fenway Racing had offered him a deal for a development driver and he wasn’t going to take it, so I got the name from him and walked in the front door of Roush-Fenway and said ‘I need to talk to this guy,’” Briscoe recalled.
“Somehow got a meeting, and that was the whole meeting that started me getting an opportunity in motorsports.”
Briscoe landed an ARCA Menards Series ride with Cunningham Motorsports and won the 2016 ARCA championship with the Ford-branded team. He’d later compete with Brad Keselowski Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series before landing at SHR in the Xfinity and Cup Series.
“Then, same thing with this, Christopher texted me the week of SHR shutting down and he said, ‘Hey, I think Martin might not be coming back,'” Briscoe said.
“‘You need to be wearing them out over there.’ So I mean, without Christopher, he’s been a huge part of my career.”
Now it’s come full circle as the two established dirt racers get to live out a dream together, competing for championships with one of NASCAR’s prominent owners, Joe Gibbs.