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What you don't know about the JGR decision to lift dirt racing restrictions for NASCAR drivers | Daily 11-19-2024

Christopher Bell back on dirt in 2025? We'll talk today about the easing of restrictions from Joe Gibbs Racing that will allow it to happen, where we could see Bell, and who was likely the quiet, and driving force behind the change. There is also sprint car news from Central PA and more. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, November 19th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

I'm sure by now you've seen the Jeff Gluck story from The Athletic and New York Times floating around about Joe Gibbs Racing Cup drivers being allowed to run some dirt races again. If you didn't see it, Gluck had comments from team owner Joe Gibbs directly about the restrictions being loosened a bit on drivers signed to his team. It's been a topic of conversation on this show several times in the past, especially when it's come to Christopher Bell at the Chili Bowl and the Alex Bowman injury from 2023. If you might remember, Bowman was hurt in a midweek High Limit sprint car show, and ended up missing several Cup races, and then subsequently was outside the NASCAR playoffs that season. He hasn't raced on dirt since, even though his dirt team has appeared at the Chili Bowl and scattered sprint car races. Kyle Larson doesn't seem to have too many restrictions from his Hendrick Motorsports bosses, but there always comes that point in the season, especially around the playoffs, where Larson's dirt schedule goes cold. The overarching thought being that these guys don't need to take a bunch of extra risks, and that their NASCAR deals need to be the main focus. It shouldn't be a shocking position given the money involved on the NASCAR side. This new take on the dirt racing situation from JGR was apparently brought on by the signing of Chase Briscoe and interest in dirt from Ty Gibbs. For CBell, he hasn't run a significant dirt schedule since 2022, when he ran something close to 30 races across midgets, micros, and sprint cars. When Stewart Haas Racing engineer DJ Vanderley was hurt and paralyzed in Bell's micro sprint event at Texas Motor Speedway late that season though, it's my understanding that the JGR brass made it known they wanted Bell to keep his focus on NASCAR. That has meant no more Chili Bowl, and Bell didn't race any dirt the entire 2023 season. This piece from Gluck isn't altogether that surprising, as I was told earlier in 2024 that things for CBell were likely loosening a bit, and he did make an appearance in May at Millbridge in a non-wing micro, finishing fourth ahead of Jade Avedisian and Daison Pursley in a feature won by Sam Johnson. Briscoe moving over to JGR to replace Martin Truex Jr. seems to have played a role here, although his growing family will likely limit his dirt racing participation. I think the bigger factor here though is Ty Gibbs. Ty is obviously Joe's grandson and the fourth JGR driver along side Bell, Briscoe, and Denny Hamlin and he's become much more interested in dirt racing here recently. Gluck's story mentions that briefly, but doesn't really give many details. To fill in some gaps here, Ty has been racing micros at Millbridge since July, driving for Chad Boat. He's had some good runs, and is looking to expand into other cars. Boat is an easy connection since he uses TRD power in his midgets, and has campaigned cars for Bell and Larson in the past, along with Dale Earnhardt Jr's nephew, Wyatt Miller. It also doesn't hurt that he's local here to the Charlotte area. There are rumblings of a possible Chili Bowl appearance for Gibbs with Boat, and Ty tested a 410 sprint car a few weeks ago in North Carolina. That happened with Bernie Stuebgen in the Indy Race Parts car right after Ricky Thornton Jr. was in it for the Charlotte test. I was told Gibbs ran well and looked like he'd done it before, and that Kyle Larson was there to observe and said Ty looked good also. Getting Gibbs comfortable in a car is likely a first step towards maybe sprint car starts later on. What the future looks like for Bell and Briscoe, I don't know, but both told Gluck they don't have plans at the moment for Chili Bowl. Obviously with still about two months to go, it's not impossible for the two to put deals together, but it's not a foregone conclusion. Briscoe in the past has brought his own car to Tulsa, and Bell could likely make a call to Keith Kunz and have a car ready and waiting for him. Bell and Brian Kemenah do still have their BKR team but Bell told The Driver's Project's Daryl Turford that Kemenah doesn't have sprint cars anymore, so at least sprint car starts won't come there. Remember Bell's final sprint car appearances back in 2022 came with Swindell Speedlab. That car could be a possibility, although we haven't seen it since 2023. Kevin Swindell just came off a late season stretch where he helped Seth Bergman to the ASCS championship. I want to note as well, this shift from JGR is not suddenly a complete gloves off situation. Gluck's story does say that the drivers do need to get approval for any races. So I don't know that I'd expect a sudden onslaught of dirt races for the three drivers. But more starts at Millbridge are probably likely, along with a handful of sprint car and midget appearances through the season. Either way, as dirt racing fans, it's fun to know we are going to have the chance to see these guys race in 2025.

Moving on to other news from yesterday, in Central Pennsylvania the Stehman 23 sprint car has a new driver going forward. This had started to leak out in recent days, and I first got wind of it a few weeks ago. Devon Borden had been in this car for several seasons, but he's been out the last few months dealing with some injuries and working on a side business. In his place, Justin Whittall had been driving it. But for 2025, Chase Dietz will join this team for a full schedule, based heavily in Central PA along with some traveling. Dietz won twice this season, once at the Grove and once at Lincoln, and split time between his own car and the Zemco machine. Joining Dietz as crew chief will be Tommy Carl, who moves over from that Zemco team. There is no word yet on what this means for Zemco going forward, but the talk points to the possible end of the famous 1Z car. Team owner John Stehman told Jeremy Elliott that it was time to move on from Borden, and that they are also switching to Maxim Chassis. So this 23 will be a completely different operation next year.

Also in PA, Selinsgrove Speedway has a new operating group. SCD Management, formed by Paula Schick, Jenna Mowery, and Colin Rice will take over the track and run 20 plus races in 2025. They told sprintcarunlimited.com that the plan is for super and limited late models, plus six or seven 410 sprint car shows. This new group takes over from Stephanie Baker and ERS Promotions, who had run the facility. We documented their struggles earlier this year with ongoing lawsuits, the lost World of Outlaws weekend, and unpaid bills. The curious note from all of this is that Selinsgrove will go against Williams Grove on some of those Fridays. With less than 70 miles between where the tracks sit, it could be a challenge to convince teams and fans to head north instead of going to Williams Grove. Selinsgrove will open their 2025 season on April 11th, with a full schedule still to come.

One more PA note for you. Expect sprint car driver Lucas Wolfe to have a new crew chief next season. On the heels of winning the World of Outlaws championship as car chief for David Gravel at Big Game Motorsports, I've been told Stephen Hamm-Reilly will be the new boss for Wolfe's team. Wolfe ran 68 races in 2024, winning in May at Williams Grove and picking 28 top tens along the way. This obviously means that Gravel's team will have some changes for next season as well.

As we close out today, a quick social media note. If you are on Bluesky, you can find us @dirtrackr.com. I started posting over there in the last few days as I expand the DIRTRACKR footprint. So besides the Daily shows on YouTube and podcast places, you can get dirt racing content from DIRTRACKR on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Threads, Instagram, and now Bluesky. So wherever you are, we are too.

That's the daily show for today. Hope you guys have a great Tuesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!