Kyle Larson assesses Joe Gibbs Racing's lineup after Chase Briscoe addition

LOUDON, N.H. — Kyle Larson saw his opening and wasted no time at all in giving the business to his friendly rival Christopher Bell last Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Bell became an instant, viral sensation on the stock-car racing side of X, formerly known as Twitter, with his accidental press-conference-reveal of soon-to-be teammate Chase Briscoe’s news that he’d be taking over the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in 2025. Larson joined in by whipping his phone out immediately and dropping one of the most memorable social media posts (with a hammer of a hashtag) in years.

So long, Chase Elliott?

To recap, during Bell’s Friday media session, he slipped and mentioned that a “Chase” would be in the 19 car next year after the incumbent Martin Truex Jr. retires from full-time racing at the end of 2024. Already suspected of being the top candidate to take over the ride heading into the weekend, Bell’s inadvertent admission essentially confirmed Briscoe’s 2025 status before the team itself announced the news, which it officially did Tuesday.

“I was like, really proud of it,” Larson said Saturday at NHMS of his post. “I was typing it so fast. I couldn’t wait to get it out. I texted Bell and Briscoe, I think before I even sent that tweet. I was (expletive) dying laughing because that was, I mean, that’s the greatest way to announce somebody coming to a team. I’m sure PR departments (were) planning this extravagant, very professional thing, but they got way more clicks for that than once they finally (did) announce it.”

All mainstays of the dirt-racing ranks, the trio of Bell, Briscoe and Larson are all quite familiar with each other, and bringing the Indiana native into the fold to pair with Bell, Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin on a championship-capable organization should provide plenty of battles between them for years to come.

It’s a bit of a revamped, younger lineup for JGR than we’ve seen in years; the team as recently as 2016 featured a lineup of Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth — at the time, four of the most tenured drivers in the sport and all current or future NASCAR Hall of Famers. Leading into next season, JGR’s three fresh-ish faces will have fewer than 400 Cup Series starts combined.

It’s not too dissimilar of a transformation that Hendrick Motorsports underwent over the past decade, seeing its own Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson all step out of the car in 2015, ’17 and ’20, respectively. The team has since invested in younger — and still extremely productive — talent, solidifying its core with Larson, Alex Bowman, William Byron and, of course, its own “Chase” — Elliott.

RELATED: Joe Gibbs Racing team page | Hendrick Motorsports team page

It’s not hard to see each of these legacy four-car stables competing annually as the 1A and 1B elite organizations in the Cup Series over the next decade, perhaps trading the Bill France Cup from shop to shop each year as well.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it is (a solid, young foundation for the future at JGR). And then you got one old guy that’s probably leaving in a few years, so yeah,” said Larson, playfully referring to the 43-year-old Hamlin. “I think they have a good lineup for sure. I think, looking at Hendrick Motorsports’ lineup, though, I think we have by far the strongest lineup for (the future). We’re all, you know, in our early 30s or late 20s. Mid 20s, for William. And yeah, lots of wins and championships and all that. So yeah, it’s cool to see where the sport’s at right now.”