LOUDON, N.H. (AP) — Joe Gibbs has driven Cup cars for Denny Hamlin since 2005, has a 10-year lead over Tony Stewart and will soon replace Martin Truex Jr., who drove for the team for the last six years of his 21-year career. The Hall of Fame football coach and NASCAR team owner knows how to squeeze as many miles and years out of his elite drivers as possible. Gibbs may have a long-term — really long-term — contender for the No. 20 Toyota.

Christopher Bell isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

“We can ride him for 20 years,” Gibbs said.

Why not? The 29-year-old Oklahoma driver has emerged as a serious contender to win the Cup Series championship this season after winning for Joe Gibbs Racing for the third time on Sunday despite wet weather in New Hampshire. That puts him tied with Kyle Larson, William Byron and Hamlin for most wins this season. Bell has won multiple races in each of the last three seasons and will finish in the top 10 11 times in 18 races in 2024.

If he can maintain that consistency as NASCAR enters the second half of the season, Bell could be one of four drivers competing for the championship in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway. “I just think Christopher is talented, and the further he goes, the more we appreciate that,” Gibbs said. “I think he's a really talented young guy. I'm telling you, he's a real American. The sponsors love him. He's just a kid that everybody loves.”

Even after holding up the traditional Hummer in Victory Lane, Bell still couldn't quite let go of some of the wins that had eluded him this season. He listed a missed opportunity at Circuit of the Americas when he couldn't quite catch Byron in the final two laps and another narrow loss at Richmond. As successful as 2024 was for Bell and the Gibbs team, he finds it hard not to think it could have gone better.

“It's pretty easy to start winning, right?” Bell said. “It's been a great ride and I feel like we're close to finding our rhythm. I'm excited about what's to come, that's for sure.”

Bell got a little help in New Hampshire, where his side stint in the Xfinity Series ended in a win as part of a weekend sweep due to severe weather and NASCAR's decision to finish the race on rain tires.

It was a race Bell wouldn't have won before this season – New Hampshire was stopped by rain with 82 laps to go and wouldn't have resumed without the rain tires, which would have meant a checkered flag for leader Tyler Reddick.

When the skies cleared after a 2-hour, 15-minute delay, NASCAR instead rolled out the tires on an oval for the first time to complete a Cup Series race and let it finish as planned. Due to subsequent crashes and yellow flags, New Hampshire even got four extra laps, allowing Bell to take the win after 86 laps on a wet track.

“They're just a lot of fun,” Bell said. “What we lost with the Next Gen car, which is the ability to push the car around and let it really loosen up, yeah, I can't describe it any better than that, but we get that back with the rain tires. When the track is wet, you can push the car around more and let it hang out more, drive it more on the right rear wheel. It's definitely a lot of fun.”

Bell, Gibbs and crew chief Adam Stevens were all enthusiastic about the rain tires.

“I don't know what to say except it's a fine line,” Bell said. “You're going to keep trying, speeding up your entries, increasing your mid-corner speed, speeding up your exits until you find the limit and know what's too much.”

Bell also won this season at Phoenix (perhaps a sign of the championship?) and at last month's rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 with 151 laps left to go.

He won NASCAR's Truck Series championship for JGR in 2017 and made his Cup debut for Leavine Family Racing in 2020 as part of a Gibbs alliance. When Leavine closed at the end of 2020, Bell was officially back at JGR, replacing Erik Jones. He won on the twisty Daytona Road Course in 2021 and finished third overall in 2022 and fourth last season.

“Christopher has really made sacrifices on his way to the top,” Gibbs said. “He's done a lot of racing on dirt and everything. When I first met him, he said, 'Coach, this is all I can do. I have to be successful in racing.'”

Over the course of his 162 Cup races, Bell has undoubtedly achieved the success that Gibbs said he should achieve in NASCAR.

Chase Briscoe will replace the outgoing Martin Truex Jr. at Joe Gibbs Racing

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Chase Briscoe and Joe Gibbs Racing confirmed that the NASCAR driver will replace the retiring Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Toyota in the 2025 Cup Series season, days after driver Christopher Bell inadvertently spoiled the surprise at a press conference.

Bell was asked an innocuous question this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway about a possible change in leadership at JGR in the wake of Truex's retirement.

“Every time Chase gets in the car…” he began to say.

Bell immediately paused and smiled, realizing he could not undo this mistake. Briscoe would indeed inherit the No. 19 Toyota at JGR next season.

JGR poked fun at the press conference Tuesday to introduce Briscoe in North Carolina.

“Since I made the mistake of starting this,” Bell said, “I think I'll finish it today.”

With that, Bell introduced Briscoe, who will be the first driver among the four at Stewart-Haas Racing to earn a Cup berth next season. SHR, a two-time NASCAR championship team with 69 Cup Series victories since its inception in 2009, announced last month that it will shut down its organization at the end of this season. SHR is fielding Cup cars for Briscoe, Josh Berry, Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece this year.

“We have to win,” Gibbs said. “We believe Chase can win.”

Briscoe, who signed a multi-year deal, is 16th in the Cup points standings after his second-place finish in Sunday's race at New Hampshire. In his Cup Series career, he has one win, 12 top-five finishes, 27 top-10 finishes and two pole positions.

“JGR is the place to be if you want to win races week in and week out and compete for the championship every year,” Briscoe said.

Bass Pro will remain a sponsor, including the 2025 Daytona 500. Truex has won 34 Cup races, 32 of them since 2015. His career high was eight wins in 2017 when he won the series championship. He will remain with JGR as an ambassador.