He is near Beantown.
Christopher Bell spilled the beans on a fellow driver’s future during his press conference at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday.
Bell was asked about the leadership structure at Joe Gibbs Racing and how it might be affected when Martin Truex Jr. retires from full-time Cup Series driving next year.
Talking about team meetings, Bell explained, “a different guy may lead the discussion, right, and every time we go into our Monday meetings it’s, it could be whoever has a good race that week. So, plenty of times it’s been Ty, plenty of times it’s been Martin, it’s been myself, it’s been Denny, so I don’t think that there really is a leadership role in that aspect, and, you, know, whenever Chase comes into the car …”
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With that, he stopped speaking, looked away and smiled as he turned bright red as he realized he’d just confirmed rumors that Chase Briscoe will be taking the seat.
“I don’t even know what to say. Whenever we have a new driver into the 19 car, whoever that is.” he joked.
Briscoe currently drives for Stewart-Haas Racing, but the team is disbanding at the end of the year, leaving its four Cup Series drivers looking for seats.
Briscoe hasn’t commented on what Bell said, but last week indicated that he was close to a deal with an unnamed team. A switch to Joe Gibbs Racing would also mean Briscoe changing from Ford to Toyota.
And while his old team won’t be the same next year, co-owner Gene Haas made the surprise announcement this week that he will be keeping one of its four charters to start the Haas Factory Team, which will be a single-car Cup Series effort next year.
Haas hasn’t confirmed who its driver will be, but Stewart-Haas Xfinity Series driver Cole Custer is considered a front-runner for the seat as the Xfinity Series defending champion and current points leader.