Joe Gibbs Racing’s willingness to permit its drivers to race outside of NASCAR could lead to more memorable dirt track encounters between Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson.
From 2017-21, Bell and Larson were the only drivers to win the prestigious Chili Bowl Nationals midget car race in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bell won three years on a row — scoring his third consecutive win in that event with a last-lap pass of Larson — and Larson won the race the next two years.
Joe Gibbs Racing typically prevents its drivers from racing outside of NASCAR for fear of them getting hurt. That stance has been modified with Chase Briscoe joining the team for the 2025 season. Bell and Briscoe have raced dirt and Ty Gibbs also has interest in doing so.
“I guess we have a majority now,” Briscoe said. “I think Bell is probably excited for sure, and I think Ty even it seems like he wants to do more dirt racing.”
Larson looks forward to seeing Bell back on dirt.
“I think that’s great for him,” Larson said of Bell. “I think that’s great for the sport, NASCAR and grassroots racing. It’s exciting. I’m glad that he gets to do it, again and hopefully, we’ll get to have many more battles in the midgets and sprint cars down the road.”
While Bell hasn’t raced on dirt lately, Larson isn’t worried about how Bell will do.
“He’s still Christopher Bell, and I wouldn’t be surprised whenever his first race is he goes and wins,” Larson said. “Hopefully. we’ll get to race and battle up front and have some duels like we used to. Hopefully, I’ll come out on top more often because he beat me all the time for a long time.”
Told of Larson’s comment, Bell responded: “He’s going to have the upper hand for a little bit. He’s got a two-year head start on me, so I’m going to have to get my dirt shoes underneath me and get back up to speed.
“I hope at some point I can get back up to speed. That’s going to be the tough part, just being out of the car for so long. Hopefully, it’s like riding a bike. I guess we’re about to find out.”
Bell said he was unsure when he would race on dirt. He will be at the Tulsa Shootout, the event, held Dec. 30 - Jan, 4, is for micro sprints and precedes the Chili Bowl Nationals. Bell will be at the Tulsa Shootout to help his father-in-law’s team. Bell said he was uncertain if he would race there. He also said that “it’s definitely not too late” to find a ride for the Chili Bowl Nationals, which will be held Jan. 12-18.
“Right now I don’t have any plans to do it,” Bell said. “I’ve got a couple of things personally that’s going on, but you never know.”
While Briscoe has run his share of dirt races, he says his focus will change in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing and taking over the No. 19 ride with Martin Truex Jr. stepping away from full-time Cup racing.
“I’m totally content not running anything just with everything I have gong on at home,” said Briscoe, who has three children, including twins born in October. “Even on the professional side, just trying to get my feet kind of settled at JGR. Maybe once I get a little more settled, I’ll go back and start running some stuff.
“Right now, honestly the desire is not really there. I’m so focused on trying to do this thing right and have this opportunity go as well as it can. I just want all my focus to be on that.”
But Briscoe is appreciative of team owner Joe Gibbs softening his stance on the team’s drivers racing outside of NASCAR.
“I’m just thankful that at least we have the opportunity to go do it, “Briscoe said. “At first, when I came over there, I thought, even if I wanted to go do it … I wouldn’t even be able to go do it, where now at least I have that option to go do it.
“I’m thankful that they opened up the reins a little bit. I was even talking to (Joe Gibbs) about it. I totally get the risk vs. reward from the ownership side, but I do think he understands the value of how much better it does make us when we go do those things. Hopefully, we can all have fun doing it and obviously be safe doing it as well.”
Many Cup drivers have sought to race outside of NASCAR with track time limited. Most weekends, Cup drivers have about 20 minutes of practice before qualifying and racing. Larson continues to race on dirt and won a series-high six Cup races this year. William Byron raced on pavement and used that to help further his skills. He’s made it to the Championship 4 each of the past two seasons.
Ty Gibbs also has an interest in running dirt races beyond what limited experience he has on that surface.
“It matters to me because racing is my livelihood, and I very (much) enjoy it,” he said. “ It’s my hobby as much as my career and it’s something that I love to do. I feel like I was put on this earth to race.”
