Could we see Christopher Bell race on dirt again sometime soon? Well, according to Jeff Gluck and The Athletic, that answer is now a yes after Joe Gibbs Racing has apparently changed its policy regarding extracurricular racing outside of the NASCAR Cup Series for their four drivers.

Joe Gibbs Racing has forbade its drivers from racing on dirt, especially in open-wheel cars like Sprint Cars, Midgets, and Micros for the last couple of years, all of which make up the background of Christopher Bell and soon-to-be JGR driver Chase Briscoe. Even Ty Gibbs, Gibbs’ grandson and driver of the No. 54 in the Cup Series, grew up on dirt, racing Outlaw Karts at Millbridge Speedway in Salisbury, North Carolina before he transitioned to pavement Late Model racing.

“We sort of talked things over to come up with a process by which they can request to run certain races,” Gibbs told The Athletic. “If they get approval from everyone they need on our competition side, then they are free to run the race. That includes dirt, but also potentially other forms of racing.”

While The Athletic reports that this change has now been formalized, this is something that has been in the works since at least earlier this summer when it was announced that Briscoe was joining JGR.

“What we’ve developed here, if someone wants to run a race outside of our Cup stuff and everything, they just come to us,” said Gibbs at Briscoe’s announcement press conference. “They go to the crew chief first and then they go to our competition guy and then we all talk it over. It has a lot to do with the car and the race track and we’ll make a decision to go forward. There will be times, but definitely, we’ll use common sense. That’s the way we’ve developed a little plan moving forward because I know it’s important to them.”

While Bell has not raced on dirt for the last couple of years, Briscoe has run a limited schedule for the last two seasons while employed at Stewart-Haas Racing. Briscoe has attempted the Chili Bowl Nationals every year since 2017. He made the A-Main in 2024 and finished 21st. He’s also made some Sprint Car starts and even made a Dirt Late Model start at the 2023 Kyle Larson Late Model Challenge at Tennessee’s Volunteer Speedway. Briscoe also restarted his Chase Briscoe Racing Sprint Car team with Karter Sarff as the driver.

Bell, on the other hand, has not run a dirt race since the end of 2022. He told David Gravel on Gravel’s podcast that he was prohibited from racing on dirt as a direct request from Gibbs himself.

“Joe is very vocal about me not dirt track racing, for the time being. And he doesn’t love it at all,” Bell said to Gravel. “I had a great relationship with Coy Gibbs (Joe Gibbs’ son who passed away in November of 2022) and my dirt track racing was funneled through there.” 

So, does that mean we’ll see Bell, a three-time Chili Bowl Nationals champion, back inside the Tulsa Expo Center behind the wheel of a Midget in January?

See you guys at a dirt track soon 😎 https://t.co/gvjAzznmvf

— Christopher Bell (@CBellRacing) November 18, 2024

According to The Athletic, not yet. Apparently Bell and Briscoe both do not have plans to do so at the moment, but “expressed relief they had the option to do so.” 

But, if Bell’s post on X is any indication, we’ll see him back on dirt very soon.